All I Am or Ever Hope to be I Owe to My Mother
by Sarah Mercury
Summary: Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn, Hundreds of bees in the purple clover, Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, But only one mother the wide world over. George Cooper Rated for some language
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: All hail the wondrous KA Applegate, for her vision and incredible style of writing has made this story, and it's author, possible. She owns all Animorph related characters, situations and termonology. I own Sarah. That's about it.

**Author's Notes**: Thought-speech is denoted by double-parenthises (( )) . This is a sequel to my first story, Sarah's Beginning. You can read this before that story, but it may not make much sense._

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_A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails._

My name is Sarah. I am thirteen years old and I live in The Hole. It's a place for teenagers who have no existing family, which is only partially true for me. I do have family; I just can't live with them for rather complicated reasons.

What are those reasons? Well for one thing, they live almost on the other side of the galaxy. I was adopted, you see, and my family isn't even the same species as me. I'm not saying I'm Moglie or anything; I wasn't raised by wolves: I was raised by aliens.

Now you think I'm nuts, but that's fine. I don't need you to believe me for it to be true. There are aliens in this universe, and most of the galaxy is at war right now. The bad guys, if you will, are called Yeerks. They are parasites who crawl into a victim's ear and take over their minds. You are aware of everything, but you can't do anything to stop it. You can't scream unless the Yeerk wants you to. And they have taken over a large part of the galaxy already.

The good guys, however, are Andalites. They look like centaurs, but not exactly. They have deadly blades on their tails and they can morph into animals. This morphing ability is actually a technology, not a birthright. Which is why when they adopted me, they gave this technology to me. They're at war with the Yeerk slugs, trying to save the universe. I used to fight together with my brothers, until my older brother was killed. Now I fight along side other humans.

I always find it strange how things work out in this world. I ended up where I began. I ended up fighting my former Guardian, as well. He raised me since I was two years old, until I was adopted. He is a Yeerk. He is a cold-hearted killer, who is responsible for my brother's death. This is why I fight him; not just for revenge for my brother, but also for myself: to right all the wrongs I did when I was under his care.

He did teach me much when I was under his care, I must admit. He taught me math and the sciences. In fact, I'm the smartest kid in my math and science classes at school. My math teacher skips over me every other test so that I don't end up passing his course with over a hundred percent. I can solve almost any math problem in my head, and can do just about any science experiment my teacher can give me.

What I'm not good at, unfortunately, is history and geography. My Guardian never bothered to teach me these things, as he was an alien and had no interest in human history. So, because of my strengths and weaknesses, my friends Jake and Marco and I made a deal: I will help them with their math and science homework, to prepare for the tests they have, and in exchange, they will prepare me for the history test.

"I still don't understand why we can't do this at _your_ house," Marco muttered, leading us to his house. Other than Cassie, who I consider my best friend, after my little brother, I have never been to my friends' houses. I didn't answer Marco because I knew he was talking to Jake.

Jake is the leader of our resistance group. We fight the Yeerks under his rule. Marco is his best friend; Cassie is his girlfriend, though he will not admit it out loud. There's also Rachel, a deadly, yet beautiful fighter, who is Jake's cousin, Tobias, a _nothlit_ who stayed beyond the morphing technology's time limit of two hours and is therefore stuck as a red-tailed hawk, and finally my little brother Aximili.

Jake answered his friend's query. "Because Tom is home."

Tom is Jake's brother and as I learned recently, he is also a Yeerk. "So what?" Marco asked. "We're studying math, not talking about _other things_."

"I don't want Sarah in my house," Jake stated simply. It sounds like an insult, but I know it wasn't. He meant that as a safety precaution. Because Tom is a Yeerk, we couldn't run the risk of saying or doing something that could compromise our situation. As far as the Yeerks knew, we're Andalites who survived the Dome ship crash. Jake wants to keep it that way.

Now there was no guarantee that Marco's dad wasn't a Yeerk, but it'll be easier to sneak around him than Tom. "I don't really want her at my house, either," Marco said.

"Why not?"

I was used to people talking about me in the third person, so I just continued walking as normal, slightly behind Jake, as he was the leader. Marco answered, "Because she's a girl! You know what my dad says every time a girl I'm not related to comes over!"

"Look at her! I don't think he'll say anything." I rolled my eyes. They assumed I was going to eat his soul with a look from my eye. That may have been true at one point, but ever since I found out my little brother wasn't killed in the Dome ship crash, my look has relaxed a lot.

Marco looked right at me and asked, "Can you morph a guy or something? Just for the purposes of this study thing?"

"No," I answered. Most of the time, my answers were short and to the point.

"Relax, man, everything will be okay," Jake assured. Marco took a deep breath and tried to look unbothered, but he failed. I didn't understand what he was so worried about. His father couldn't have been that bad.

When we reached the porch of Marco's place, he stopped the entourage and looked at me again. "I just want to apologize right now for everything my dad is about to say and do."

I raised an eyebrow. "Nothing he says will insult me."

"I'm worried more about me."

"Relax!" Jake said again. "Just hurry up. I don't want to be studying forever." Marco huffed and opened the door to his house. He stepped in first, shouting his arrival, following by Jake and lastly me.

Marco's dad came to the door to greet us. "Hey, Marco," he said instantly. "Hey, Jake. I'm sorry, who are you?" He looked at me expectantly.

"Uh, this is my friend, Sarah," Marco introduced. "From school. She's in my math class. In fact, we're studying math together. Uh, with Jake. The three of us are studying math -"

"Friend?" his father said. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded. "Sir."

"Sir? Geez, how old do you think I am?"

"Older than me, and therefore 'sir'."

He laughed. "I like this one!" He put his hand right on my head and ruffled my hair. It annoyed me tremendously, but I didn't say anything. I even managed to resist the urge to break his wrist, because he was my Elder and it would have been disrespectful.

He walked back towards the kitchen. "I'm just finishing up the dishes and doing some other chores. You guys wanna help clean the living room?"

"No, dad; we have to study math!" Marco objected.

"I'll pay you."

"Consider it clean!" He went to pick up an empty bag of chips.

"Marco, we have a test tomorrow in science," Jake reminded, arms folded.

"Come on, man! We're getting paid!"

They stood staring at each other for a while, and then Jake sighed and unfolded his arms. "Fine, we'll clean the living room, but then we study!"

"Works for me!" I just stood there, watching. The two of them worked very hard and very fast. Marco was motivated by his father's wallet and Jake was just doing it for his friend's sake. I had no reason to help, as I was motivated by neither, and therefore just stood there.

"Aren't you going to help, Sarah?" Jake asked.

"There is no reason for me to."

"Money?"

"I don't need money."

Jake hesitated. "How about because I said so?"

I narrowed my eyes, but said, "Very well." I went over to a corner of the room and began picking up chip bags, abandoned wrappers, pop cans, and other such trash.

"Wow," said Marco. "If Jake says it, she'll do anything!"

"Shut up, Marco," Jake said. He looked at me. "You know, you can just tell me I'm wrong or just not do what I say."

"I'll do that if I believe your order is not valid."

Marco muttered to his friend, "She's just like Ax."

"He _is_ my brother," I pointed out.

Marco's dad came into the room then. "Done the dishes; how are things out here? You missed a spot, Marco."

"Hey, I don't see you on your hands and knees here!"

"I spent all day cleaning."

"And I spent all day at school. That's a fulltime job right there." They laughed. They were just like each other. They matched wits perfectly. I could see why they were related.

His dad plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Ah, it's good to be relaxing."

"Shut up, dad."

We continued our work until the living room was free of clutter. There were a lot of garbage in here, but I made no mention of it. This is how they lived, so as long as they cleaned up, there was no problem.

When Marco had put the last of the garbage in the trash can, he walked up to his father and asked, "Money?"

"Let me look at the final product." He turned off the TV and stood up, surveying the room. He was nodding his approval as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. "Nice job. Let's never get it this bad again."

"You say that every time."

He chuckled. He pulled out of his wallet three five dollar bills and gave one to each of us. "I do believe you passed your initiation," he said to me as he handed me the money. "I put all of Marco's friends through an initiation."

"No you don't, dad."

"Quiet! I'm trying to freak out your friend here."

"She's Death! You can't freak her out!"

"That's not very polite!"

"Look at her and tell me otherwise."

"Thank you, sir," I said, putting the money into my own pocket.

"And if you call me 'sir' one more time, I'll…" He stopped to think. When he came up with nothing, he said, "I'll think of something."

"Yes, sir."

Marco and Jake laughed at that. I didn't see why it was so funny. I was taught to call my Elders 'sir' because it's respectable. He and Cassie's dad think it makes them sound old, but I don't see why.

"Can we study now?" Marco asked.

"Sure," replied his father, "just keep the door open." He snickered as his son punched him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Come on; my room's upstairs." He led us to the staircase. I waited for Jake to pass by me before I followed. I took about two steps when something caught the corner of my eye. I turned to look on the end table at the other end of the couch, expecting to see a strange object of value, or possibly a book or something, but I was wrong. What I saw was a photograph.

It was a park-like setting. There were three smiling people in the picture: one was Marco, obviously when he was much younger, the other was his father, and as soon as I saw the third, I was hit with a wave of memories, all bad, of a screaming little girl, several assassination attempts, insult after insult, orders, armies, pain, torture, slavery and a lot of contempt.

I think the mixed emotion on my face was more than a little present, because I heard Marco's father ask, very concerned, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I shook my head, hoping to clear my face back to a neutral look, and replied, "Nothing, sorry; I guess the cleaning made me a little woozy, that's all."

I knew Jake and Marco weren't buying it, but the father seemed satisfied. He did ask, "Can I get you some water?"

"No, sir, thank you." I nodded towards the photograph. "I would like to know who the woman in the picture is, please."

"Uh, I think we should hurry and get some studying done," Marco said, in a very rushed and somewhat desperate voice. Jake's eyes were narrowed, but I do believe he was trying to give me an unspoken order of the same line as Marco's request.

Before I could take back the request, Marco's dad looked over at the picture, smiled sadly and replied, "That's Eva. She was my wife before she died."

I choked on my own spit. I brought a hand to my neck and coughed. It took a third cough before I could clear my throat. Marco's dad jumped to his feet and said, "I'll get you some water," then rushed to the kitchen.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Marco hissed at me as soon as his father was gone.

I opened my mouth to speak and coughed again. Marco's dad came back into the living room and gave me the glass of water. I took it and drained it, coughed one more time, then was fine. I finally managed to speak, "I'm sorry; I got some dust caught in my throat."

"You don't do a lot of cleaning, do you?" asked his father.

"No; not really I suppose."

"Are you sure you're okay now?"

"Yes, yes. We have a lot of studying to do."

"Yeah; lots. See you." Marco rushed upstairs, but Jake managed to walk with me instead. I think it was a way to keep me going as opposed to standing in the living room with my eyes focused on something they shouldn't have been.

I don't even think I was supposed to see that photograph.

The door to his bedroom didn't even close behind us before Marco hissed, "What's wrong with you?!"

"Nothing."

"You made quite a scene down there!"

"Wrong; I restrained myself. I was fairly _close_ to making a scene, but I stopped myself before I could."

"I take it then," Jake interrupted before Marco could say anything else, "you've seen her before?"

"Sir, I respect you as a leader but I have to ask: are you truly that stupid?" I think my comment shocked them both, as they just stood there, staring. I added, "Of course I've seen her! She's V -" I stopped. I was speaking rather loudly. I think they understood anyway, because Marco avoided my gaze and Jake just sighed.

Hushed, Jake said, "Well, we don't like bringing it up, okay? So don't talk about it anymore."

I nodded, fully willing to obey, but Marco started talking again. "Are you going to start feeling sorry for me now? Are you going to pity me? Pat me on the back and tell me everything's okay; that it's okay my mother is a bloody murderer and we'll get her back someday? Are you going to tell me that?"

"No," I replied.

"Why not? Everyone else pitied me my whole life."

"Just because everyone else does something doesn't mean I will." There was a pause in which I spoke again. I knew Jake was trying to shut me up, but I said it anyway: "I should have seen the resemblance earlier. I don't know why I didn't make the connection sooner."

"What would have happened if you did?" Marco demanded.

"I would have told you what I'm going to tell you now." He waited. Even Jake wanted to hear me out. I said, "Just because she _was_ your mother at one point, she isn't now. And if I ever see her, and I have even half a chance, I will kill her. I won't even stop to think about it."

Marco huffed. He looked like he was going to cry but did a great job stopping it. "If you're going to try to kill her, then I'm going to stop you."

"You're welcome to try."

"That's enough!" Jake finally said. We looked at him. "We won't talk about this anymore, understood? If we ever have to make that decision, and let's hope we _don't_, then _I_ will make that decision, okay?"

I nodded. So did Marco. The silence that followed was short, but very much on edge. I didn't feel like studying anymore. I think our exchange has made my friendship with Marco strained. I was afraid one small thing could snap that very tight cord.

Time went on for a while until Marco's bedroom door opened. His father came in. "Hey, guys, I told you to keep this door opened," he said. His smile was annoying me. When he looked at our serious faces, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied. "I would like to go home now." I looked back at Jake, who nodded slightly. I instantly left the room.

On my way out, I heard Marco's dad ask, "What's up with her?" But that was all I heard before I left the house. I marched down the street until I got my mind back together. What I said was out of line, I know, but I meant it and will stand by it. I found myself heading towards Cassie's house. She understood the emotional side of things better than I did, so she could help me make a better decision if the time came to do so.

It took me more than an hour to walk to her place. In that time, I managed to calm down a great deal more. I walked up her driveway and stood in front of the door. I didn't even knock on it when Cassie opened it. "Hi, Sarah. Jake told me you were coming."

"What?"

"He said you and he were at Marco's place studying and you forgot that you gave me your history notes to look over." I was still very confused, but I looked over her shoulder and saw her parents were within hearing range. That explained it.

"Uh, yes. Could I get them back, please?"

"Sure." She picked up a bunch of random papers on an end table close to the door. "I'm going to walk Sarah back to Marco's place."

"Have fun," her father said, and then Cassie left the house. I noticed the papers she picked up were blank and she instantly put them in the trash bin outside her house when we passed it.

"Wanna tell me what's wrong?" she asked.

"How did Jake know I'd come here?" I asked back.

She shrugged. "It was either here or in the forest with Ax."

I sighed. My movements were getting to be a little predictable. "I just found out one of my best friends is related to one of my least favourite people in the universe."

"And how should that affect anything?"

"Because I want to kill her."

"Oh." We walked in silence for a while. I found we were walking to the forest. It would be nice to see my brother again. "Why do you want to kill her?"

"Why do you think? She's the highest ranking Yeerk in the empire, after the Council of Thirteen. Her death will create confusion and fear among the empire, and therefore will give us more than a simple upper hand. Plus, once wind of her death reaches the Andalites, the war will turn in our favour."

"All of which you don't care about," Cassie stated.

"Of course I care about it."

"No, there's a more underlying reason for your insistence on killing her. There's a more personal reason. If it was a simple matter of politics, you wouldn't have told Marco to his face that you were going to kill his mother."

And that is why I came to Cassie instead of Aximili. He would have just agreed with me, because he's an Andalite and strongly believes that his people will prevail. He's very much in tune with the politics of the universe and would have believed that my decision was correct.

Not Cassie. She was emotional and understood feelings. She also knew _me_. I really was becoming more predictable. I sighed but said nothing. Cassie understood. "You wanna tell me what she did?"

I snorted. "That's a long story."

"You've told me long stories before."

"This is really a long story."

"In other words, you don't feel like talking about it."

"That's right."

"Okay." We walked down the path of the forest for a while. Having Cassie with me was a lot better for me than walking alone. She didn't have to say anything for me to realize the calmness of the situation.

"Maybe I should apologize to Marco." That came out like more of a suggestion than a statement.

"Would you mean it if you did?"

"No."

"Then don't. Not until you can mean it. Otherwise, it'll sound like pity, and he hates pity."

"I know. I do too."

We walked in silence for a while. The forest sounds were getting louder as we went deeper into the woods. Soon we veered off the path and walked into a thicker part of the trees, yet I didn't feel lost at all. I knew exactly where we were going. We came across a small meadow after walking for ten minutes, and upon our approach, I saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a tree, almost as if waiting for us.

"Hi Tobias," Cassie said, giving a small wave.

((What took you so long?)) Tobias asked, in thought speech. ((I could see and hear you guys from yards away.))

"Were you always such a braggart?" I asked, smirking.

((Ever since becoming better than human, yeah.)) We laughed at that. ((If you're looking for Ax, he's over by the water hole.)) He turned his head to the side, and if I didn't know better, it looked as if he was nodding in that direction.

"Thanks." I picked up the pace a bit and headed towards the water hole close to Tobias' tree. Cassie stayed behind with Tobias, probably to explain what was going on. I saw my brother a little ways away, and I jogged to get to him.

He looked up at me and smiled in a way that only Andalites could do: with his eyes. ((Hello, Sarah. What brings you to the forest?))

"You," I replied. I didn't say anything for a moment though, but when I did, I couldn't look him in the eye. "I found out who Visser One is."

Aximili sighed in my head in silent understanding. ((Ah.)) We stood there for a moment. ((What will you do about it?))

"I don't know."

((But you knew before coming here.))

"Yeah, but now I'm not so sure."

((Because she's your friend's mother?))

"No; because Jake told me not to make a decision on the matter."

((You don't care about who she is?))

"Who she is right now is a Yeerk. Who she was before doesn't matter."

((And if she wasn't a Yeerk now, would you still wish her dead?))

I said nothing. Again, I avoided his gaze. I heard Cassie coming up to us, so I focused my attention on her. Tobias fluttered in on a nearby tree, as well.

"It's a beautiful day," Cassie said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah."

((Sarah, I don't think you should worry too much right now,)) Tobias suggested. ((What are the chances of you having to go through with any decision now?))

"Knowing me? Pretty damn good," I replied…


	2. Chapter 2

_Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever -- Lance Armstrong quotes_

The next day, in school, I didn't see Marco at all. I wasn't in math class, because there was a test and I had to skip it, so I spent that class in the library. I studied as much as I could for my history test, but no amount of focus I gave to it made anything make sense. I simply didn't understand anything, much less understanding why I needed it.

I heard the bell ring and that meant lunch time. Maybe I could ask Jake to help me study so that I wouldn't completely fail the test. I gathered my books and went to the cafeteria, but Jake was already sitting with Marco, and when I came in, Marco glared at me like he did the first time he saw me, and I knew I wasn't welcome at their table.

Fine. Fine, I've handled rejection before. I went to my own table. It hurt like hell, and I've never felt so terrible before, but I've handled it and I could do it again. I sat down and pointlessly opened my books to study from. I took out my homemade lunch and ate it slowly. I don't think I even looked at my notes once during that whole lunch period.

Cassie came into the café a few minutes after I took my first bite and instantly sat with me. I was very grateful for this, though I didn't say anything. I think she saw the rejection on my face, because she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

She pressed her lips together, looking as if she was going to retort, but then just sighed and opened her own lunch. Rachel sat beside Cassie a few moments later. "Stupid Geography test," she said, as soon as she was seated. "Is every teacher in this school giving tests today?"

"Seems like it," Cassie replied. I said nothing.

"What's wrong with you?" Rachel asked me.

"Nothing."

"Are you studying for History?"

"Trying to."

She snorted. "You're going to fail, aren't you?"

"Probably."

Rachel muttered to Cassie, "What crawled in her cornflakes this morning?" She just shrugged.

I sighed, but said nothing. I can't believe how much Marco's hatred of me was bugging me. A month ago it wouldn't have even crossed my mind, and now I couldn't stop thinking about it. Cassie and Rachel went on talking about whatever, and I just sat, listening, saying nothing.

A half hour later, Rachel said, "I want something for dessert. Cassie?"

"Yeah, I'll grab an ice cream. What about you, Sarah?"

Without hesitation, I instantly said, "I hate ice cream."

Cassie and Rachel looked at me like I was stupid. "You're the first kid I ever met who said that." But she and Cassie got out of their seats and went up to the café lady to get their ice cream.

I just sat. I ate the last of my lunch when another kid came up to me: Erek, a friend of Jake and Marco's. Of course, he was more than that, as well. I looked up at him and he smiled at me. I knew it was just a show; that he had something important to tell me. He doesn't normally come up to me unless he has to tell me something.

He waited until Rachel and Cassie came back before he sat down. The two of them looked at him like someone would look at a person who was baring unwelcome news. Erek usually is.

"Hi guys. Man, is it test day or what?" Erek said, in a jovial manner.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Direct, aren't you? I just wanted to talk about the tests today."

"What do you want?"

He sighed. "Alright, alright." I felt the air ripple around me and Erek was no longer human. He was back in his robotic dog form. His human appearance was a hologram. "Everyone else will hear about test day, then."

"Whatever." The first time I saw Erek do this, I was impressed. Now I was just bored and slightly angry.

"What is it, Erek?" Cassie asked, with more concern than me.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." He paused. "The good news is I passed my English test. I was fairly worried about that one."

"Erek!" I snapped, my nostrils flaring.

"Wow, what crawled in your cornflakes this morning? I was kidding!"

"Get to the point before I find out how durable your body is!"

"Okay, okay! Someone has to tell me what's wrong with her later." Again, he paused. "The bad news is that everyone's favourite Yeerk is going to be joining everyone's favourite group on their little hike."

"The Sharing? Why?" Rachel asked.

"And why would we care?" I added.

"I talked to Jake about this before coming over here. He knew about the hike because Tom was talking about it, and tried talking him into it."

Tom was in The Sharing. I wasn't told this before.

"They're going to be hiking through the forest and up the hill. When they reach the top, they're going to set up camp, spend the night, and hike back down."

"Again, we care why?"

"Visser Three's going to be there. He never goes with The Sharing unless he has to. There's going to be a reason for this."

"And yet you don't know what it is? Nice informant you are. As if we couldn't get all that out of Tom."

Cassie and Rachel glared at me while Erek looked away. Let them glare; I don't care. "I'm sorry I don't have more information," Erek said, apologetically. "That's pretty much all I could find out. It's a very top secret thing that only high ranking Yeerks know about. Apparently, I'm not an important enough Yeerk yet." He chuckled a bit. Knowing I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, he said, "See, it's a long story and -"

"Don't care," I interrupted.

"Okay." An uncomfortable silence. "Anyway," Erek continued, "I just thought I'd let you know about it. Let you guys decide what to do from here." He got up to leave. The noises in the café grew louder and Erek resumed his holographic human shape. "Bye." And he left the table.

I looked at my books, trying to ignore Rachel and Cassie, who were piercing a hole into my head with their eyes. I didn't actually see anything I was looking at. Rachel said, "What the hell is wrong with you? He was doing his best. Do you know how hard it is to get information out of _those guys_?"

I raised my head to look at Rachel as if she were the stupidest person on the planet. She realized her error and just looked away from me. Cassie said, "I guess Jake and Marco know about this already." She looked over my head and made a short, almost unnoticeable nod. An unspoken arrangement to meet in Cassie's barn to discuss the situation better.

The bell rang again. I gathered my books and got out of my chair. Time to take my History test. There was no way I was going to pass it. Rachel and Cassie got up and walked away without saying anything to me. I turned around and caught Marco's eye. Jake had his back to me, but Marco just glared and walked away.

Why did I feel so bad? I told him the truth. The truth hurts, right? I should have lied to him. I should have told him that I would try not to kill his mother. Better yet, I shouldn't have said anything. The problem is I didn't really believe that. Every time I thought about Visser One, I wanted to punch something. I want to kill her. But I don't want Marco to hate me.

I guess it was one or the other. I wish I never saw that photograph…

"Okay, class, pencils down. Hand your test papers to the front." I finished my test a minute after the teacher said that. Luckily, I was already near the front, so I could use that extra bit of grace to scribble in a pathetic answer. I left half the test blank and I know the answers I did write were either wrong or mostly wrong. I hate history.

The teacher picked up my test paper and shook his head. Great: that's a good sign. I sighed in frustration. I heard Billy in the back say, "Ha! That means she failed! Again! What an idiot!"

And all the anger, hurt and everything else I was bottling up came out in one explosion of rage. I popped out of my seat as if it was on fire and before anyone, much less me, realized what I was doing, I had already approached Billy's desk, grabbed the collar of his shirt and hoisted him out of his chair. My fist was already drawn back when I felt someone grab my arm and prevent me from letting it fly into Billy's face.

"Sarah, sit down!" the teacher roared, but when I turned my head around, it was Jake who was grabbing my arm. His silent glare was what made me back off, not the teacher, but when I took my seat again, the teacher had a smug look on his face, thinking he was the one who stopped the wild beast that was me.

I was huffing loudly. My gaze fixated on the front, but I was all too aware of Jake beside me, analyzing me. I would never have done that under normal circumstances, and I believe Jake knew what was going on.

"I think you should talk to Marco," Jake whispered to me.

"No," I said instantly.

"I think you should." It was an order, not a suggestion. I sighed and nodded. Fine, but I wasn't going to like it, and neither would he.

"After school," I said, which meant 'After school in Cassie's barn when everyone else is there for both my protection and his'. Jake nodded in agreement, and that was the extent of our conversation for the remainder of class.

In gym class I didn't participate at all. Rachel understood why: if I did, I would seriously injure someone. The teacher didn't get it, however, and gave me detention afterwards. That means I'll be late for the meeting. Fine, like I care.

I walked into Cassie's barn close to an hour late. No one was happy with me. They glared at me like they did when I fist came into their lives. The only difference was that Cassie was glaring, too. It made me feel even worse, but I didn't say anything.

My brother wasn't here. "Where's Aximili?" I asked.

"He doesn't usually come to these meetings unless he has to," Jake said, calmly, as if nothing bad was going on between us. But I knew better. He was just trying to smooth over a precarious situation. "Now that we're all here, we need to discuss what to do about The Sharing."

"We need more information first," Rachel said. "We need to know what's so important that Visser Three's going to be there."

"The only problem is, we need to gather information _while_ we're infiltrating," Marco added, "Otherwise we'll loose the chance to do whatever."

((Which means we need a bird's eye view of everything,)) Tobias joked, sitting on the rafters above our heads.

Jake grinned. "I guess you'll field that position, Tobias."

((Happy to oblige.))

"And now we need two teams: one to follow the hikers as they go, and the other to wait at the camp site for them. That way, we'll have all positions covered and we'll be able to see exactly what's going on when it happens."

"Which means only one team will be on the scene when whatever happens, happens," Cassie pointed out. "What if that team needs reinforcements?"

((That's where I come in,)) Tobias said. ((I'll keep my eye on both teams so if one gets in trouble, I can tell the other.))

"But make sure, Tobias, when you call for reinforcements, that it's the real deal, and not a trap or a diversion."

((Got it.))

"So, excluding Tobias, there are six of us. That means three to a team." Jake paused to think. I awaited his decision. "Each team needs a fearless fighter and a leader. With no offence to anyone present."

"No offence, man," Marco said, while everyone else, besides me, laughed.

"That means Rachel and Sarah are on opposite teams, as are Marco and I."

"And Ax will probably want to be on your team, Jake," Cassie pointed out, "so then I'll be on the other team."

"Sounds good. So the team that stays at the camp site will be Marco, Sarah and -"

"No!" Marco and I said instantly. That attracted the glares of everyone yet again. Marco explained, "I don't want to be on the same team as _her_."

"Stop acting like a baby!" Rachel sneered. "This is serious; not some little Soldiers and Indians game!"

"I don't care. Put me on the team with Rachel," Marco demanded. Jake looked at him like a father who doesn't want to give his son what he wants, but doesn't want to make a scene either.

"Fine. The team at the camp site will be me, Sarah and Ax. The hiker's team will be Marco, Rachel and Cassie." He glared at the two of us. "But whatever the _hell_ is going on with you two, get over it _quickly_! Your bickering could cost us a lot!"

"Fine," the two of us said.

There was another uncomfortable silence before Cassie asked, "When is this hike supposed to take place?"

Jake answered, "In a few hours. Tom's getting ready for it now. In fact, we should all go home and make up stories for why we may not be home until tomorrow. We'll meet back here at five o'clock sharp. Don't be late." He stared at me when he said that. I just nodded.

We all dispersed. I never did get that talk with Marco Jake told me to have. Not that I wanted to talk to him anyway. I may do that eventually, but for now, I had to focus on the mission at hand. It was still at least two hours before we had to meet again. I decided to walk home, clear my mind, and then walk back. That should take me about two hours…


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Notes**: My apologies; this chapter is fairly long. Twice as long as some of the others. :P _

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_Teamwork is working together — even when apart._

There was a huge field at the camp site, obviously for the tents when the hikers get here. Jake, Aximili and I, however, were hiding behind the trees surrounding the camp site. Jake assumed there'd be traps, so we made sure Tobias checked out the area before we demorphed here. When it passed inspection, Tobias went to check on the hikers. Jake figured traps would be set up later, so we made sure to be alert.

"From where they are, it should take them about five hours to hike here," Jake said. "I hope everyone's well fed."

((I am not hungry, Prince Jake,)) Aximili said.

"Don't call me 'Prince'," Jake replied instantly. I smirked. "What should we do to pass the time?" I shrugged. Aximili didn't do anything, but his lost expression said the same thing. Jake sighed. "I didn't realize how boring this would be."

"You should have put yourself on the hiker's team then," I said.

"I tried to, but you and Marco had a hissy fit."

I rolled my eyes. "He was the one who insisted on going to a different team."

"You still objected as well."

((Why would the two of you object? Aren't you and Marco friends?))

"Yes, but…" I sighed. "I don't know." There was a pause. "Besides, Jake, you could have still put yourself with the hikers. This team there instead of the other one."

"No." It was a simple statement, but I knew there was meaning behind it. "I wanted _you_ here, because this is the end of the road. There are very little places to run. At least with the hikers, that team can run and hide if necessary. Not here. Whatever's going to happen will most likely happen here, and I need you to be the brunt of our assault."

I was both flattered and confused. "Don't you trust Rachel with that?"

"Rachel's kind of fighting is wide spaces with lots of enemies. That would be the hiker's team, if it even happens there. Here, any fight that breaks loose will be more enclosed, specialized fighting. That's your style."

"You've known me for a week and you already know my fighting style?"

"The key to being a leader is knowing your troops and using their skills appropriately."

My respect for Jake as a leader jumped up a few hundred more points. Now I understood why my brother called him 'Prince'. Aximili was beaming with pride himself. I couldn't help but smirk anyway.

Jake sat down and let out a sigh. "We're going to be here for a while," he said. "Might as well get comfortable."

He was the only one who sat down. Aximili and I just stood, staring at the field, keeping our ears open. A few minutes after Jake sat down, I did hear a noise behind me. Jake heard it, too, because he jumped to his feet and spun around. Aximili raised his tail in a ready position, and I just stood there. I was already ready.

The air rippled around me and I saw a metallic dog on his hind legs approach. "Hey, guys," Erek greeted.

"Erek, don't scare us like that," Jake said, smiling.

"Sorry." He walked in closer. "I can't stay long. I told the hikers I was just going to the bathroom."

"The hikers are five hours away, Erek," I pointed out.

"I can run fast." I believed that. After all, he wasn't exactly human. "Anyway, I wanted to give you something."

Only then did I notice he was holding something. Maybe it was his hologram keeping it hidden until he was ready to reveal it. Either way, he handed me a Dracon Beam. I took it, raising my eyebrow in much confusion.

Jake asked what I was thinking, "Where did you get this? And why are you giving it to Sarah?"

"Well, I got it from the Yeerk Pool. No one will notice it missing. And I'm giving it to Sarah as sort of an apology. You know, for not gathering enough information on this mission."

I sighed, knowing full well Jake's head turned to me. "Erek," I began.

He raised a hand. Or paw. "Don't worry about it. I figured you'd need it anyway. If Hork-Bajir come out, I'd rather you be armed than not."

"About today -"

"I said don't worry. Cassie explained it all to me." For a split second, I felt the need to attack her, but then I realized it was for my own good and I let it go. "Anyway, I better get back. They're going to be singing hiking songs and I'm leading. I have a good voice." He winked and his hologram resumed his human form, and then he dashed away. And I do mean _dashed_. He really was fast.

"You want to explain what you did to Erek today?" Jake asked.

"Not really."

"Does it have anything to do with your frustration with Marco?"

"Sort of."

"After this mission, you two are going to sit and talk, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"And I already told you not to call me 'sir'!"

"Sorry." Jake sat back down. Aximili was being very silent. I looked at him and he just looked at me. I think he understood that I didn't want to talk about it.

Another half hour or so later, we heard Tobias. ((How's everything up here?))

"Boring," Jake muttered.

Because he was way too far away for Tobias to hear, Aximili passed on the information. ((Prince Jake says it's boring.))

Jake put his face in his hand and groaned. I looked at Aximili and said, "Jake doesn't want you to call him 'Prince'."

((I will stop that when you stop calling him 'sir'.))

All I heard from that was Jake laughing. Loudly. Tobias said, ((Whatever you guys are laughing about, you better quit it. If I can hear you, then you're too loud.))

Jake put his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. I think the boredom was getting to him. Then again, I don't think I ever heard my brother make such a funny joke. He was hanging around humans too much.

((Anyway, I have an update for you guys.)) He paused. Jake composed himself and we all waited. ((The hikers started singing, and Rachel is debating whether or not to bash their heads. She says they're really bad. Especially Erek.)) Now it was my turn to laugh. It was short lived though. Tobias continued, ((Also, Marco overheard one of the Controllers say that The Sharing's special guest was going to meet everyone at the camp site. Which means Visser Three is going to be here soon.))

Jake got back on his feet and silently motioned us to move back further. When we were more enclosed in the trees, Jake nodded to Aximili and my brother said, ((Thank you, Tobias. We will contact you when we have more information.))

((Okay. I'll hang around a bit here. The hikers don't seem to be getting into trouble.)) And with that, he was silent.

The next few minutes were full of tension. Jake's gaze was focused on the field, Aximili's was everywhere and I was just focusing on every little noise that I heard. It was so quiet that I think I heard Jake and Aximili's hearts beating. Mine was steady and calm. Tense moments like this I've been through before, so I could handle myself better.

Nothing happened for another half hour or so, and then Tobias announced, ((Here he comes,)) and we saw a human enter the clearing. I knew it was Visser Three as soon as I saw him. The evil radiating off him could be picked up by anyone within a mile radius. I frowned and gripped my Beam a little harder. Jake glared at me in an unspoken order of 'Don't fire until I tell you to'. I nodded reluctantly.

The Visser just moved to the middle of the field and paced around a bit. I could feel my brother beside me tighten in anger and raise his tail again. Jake was glaring at him, too. It was so hard to keep from blowing his brains out, but we needed to know why he was here. And most importantly, why he was alone.

After a few minutes, I watched him demorph. My rage only elevated when I saw his true form emerge from the human morph he had. Aximili was tensing up more, as well. ((We have a perfect opportunity here,)) Aximili pointed out. ((He does not know we're here. We can kill him now!))

Jake shook his head vigorously. Not yet. We can't do anything yet. We didn't know for sure that he was completely unprotected. And besides that, we don't know why he's here. His death could possibly ruin whatever is supposed to take place. Whatever is going to happen, we need to see it through, first.

I felt the air around me pick up. It felt like I was in a wind storm, which only made me believe that a ship was landing, even if I saw nothing. Bug Fighters were usually the only Yeerk ships that land on the earth, and they were cloaked until they came to a complete stop. And my suspicions were correct when the air stopped moving and a ship de-cloaked.

Visser Three backed off a bit and was looking rather livid. Whoever was in that ship was not a welcome guest. Jake, Aximili and I stood very silently, very still. The only sounds that were made were by the ship's door opening. The three of us weren't even breathing, it seemed.

Time seemed to slow down. The door completely opened and someone stepped off into view that made Visser Three's tail poise in an attacking position, made Aximili almost mirror the Visser's movements, made Jake mutter, silently, the word "_Shit_!" and made my eyes widen and grip my Beam so hard that my knuckles went white.

Flashbacks crossed my mind. A sharp pain in my shoulder as a knife was inserted into it. An order to aim and fire from a distance. A maniacal smile as my body was held over a cliff. Dunking head after head into the Yeerk pool. Being starved until the job was done. Making one small mistake and having to ward off a herd of Taxxon single-handedly in order to live from it.

I could not keep my eyes off the scene. I think Jake nodded to Aximili to inform Tobias of what was going on. He said, ((Inform the others that the reason Visser Three is here has arrived.))

((And what's that? I can't really see what's going on down there unless I get closer,)) Tobias replied. ((And are you sure it's not a distraction or whatever?))

((This is no distraction,)) my brother informed. ((Visser One is here.))

((Oh, _shit_!))

It was too perfect for me. My two least favourite people in the universe right here, and I had a Dracon Beam. As silently as I could, I took aim. I was so very close to firing, until Jake put his hand on my weapon and forced it down. I gave him the iciest stare I could muster, but his glare was just as bad as mine. We didn't say anything. We didn't have to. He was telling me _not_ to fire and I was telling him he was a moron.

We glared at each other until Visser Three spoke. ((It's about time. You're always late.))

"I like to make an appearance," she replied. I haven't heard her voice in years, and when she spoke, it felt like a ton of bricks smashed into my head. I tried to take aim again, but Jake had an iron grip on my weapon. He kept shaking his head, but I didn't care. He didn't know. He didn't understand. He didn't realize how hard it was to stand here and let her live!

Aximili put his hand on my shoulder. Andalites don't do that if they want to show support, but I assumed it was another human trait he learned. It did help, but not by much. My breathing increased, but I was still quiet enough to remain hidden.

((You do realize we are probably surrounded by Andalite bandits?)) Visser Three pointed out. The three of us stiffened.

Visser One just smirked. "Of course I realized that, idiot. And I would guess that half of them are here and the other half are with those hikers."

((They will _all_ be here when they realize _you_ are here.))

"How flattering!" she said, with a sarcastic grin on her face. I gripped my weapon again. Oh, how I would love to blow that smile off her face!

Visser Three shared my rage. His tail looked as if it would slice her neck at any moment, and he was struggling very hard to keep it raised in the air. ((Why aren't you worried? Do you want those Andalites to kill you?))

"Oh, they won't. And if you had a brain in that pathetic skull you'd know that." Visser Three growled in our heads, which just made Visser One laugh. "By now, the Andalites with the hikers probably realize why they should stay there."

Jake raised his eyebrow. The confusion on his face was matched by what Visser Three asked: ((And why would that be?))

"You're an idiot. Do you think I would step off that Bug Fighter completely unprotected?"

((He snarled. I was hoping you would. No witnesses.))

Smiling, she replied, "This whole area is about to become a war zone. In a few minutes, the Andalites here will be ambushed and their presence will be revealed."

Instantly, I saw Jake starting to morph. My eyes were still focused on the Vissers, but out of the corner of them, I saw Jake's skin get furry, turned orange, and then he dropped to his hands. Or rather paws.

"And if the other Andalites had sense, they would stay away from this area," she finished, looking rather smug indeed. Now that Jake's hand wasn't on my weapon, I took aim again. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a shot out because Jake clamped his tiger jaws on my ankle. Lightly, of course, but just enough to keep me from firing.

((Do not shoot until I tell you to, understand?)) he said. I just nodded. I lowered the weapon, but not by much. ((Right now, we need to see what this war zone is going to be. And we have to keep the others away from it.)) He then spoke to us all. ((Tobias! If you can hear me, keep the others away from here!))

((Why?)) came the reply. It was faint, but due to the fact that it was heard, we all knew it was too late: the others were on their way.

"I think that you should get out of this field and stop the Andalites if they really are on their way here," Visser One said.

((I don't take orders from you!)) Visser Three snarled.

"Fine, then when they all get here, you can fight them all at once."

The Visser growled, but he knew he had to go. ((And what about the item?))

"I already told you that you'll get it when the hikers get here."

((Item?)) Jake asked. He called out to Tobias again. ((There's something with the hikers that is important. You and the others get away from here and find out what it is.))

((It's kind of too late, Jake!)) Tobias called back, a little more clearly. They were getting closer.

((Why?)) Jake asked. I could tell he was annoyed at this point.

((Two reasons: first, the hikers are gone.))

((What?))

((Shortly after you told me that Visser One was here, and I told the others, the hikers disappeared. I didn't see what happened, but half way up the hill I looked back and they were gone.))

((Oh, great.)) Sarcasm. There was a slight pause. ((What's the other reason it's too late?))

((Marco won't turn around. At all.))

I wonder if Jake would have rolled his eyes if he could. Visser Three, growling, left the clearing the way he came into it. Jake said, ((Tobias, Visser Three is -))

((Out here. We see him. We'll keep him occupied while you do whatever to get the hikers back.))

But we couldn't even do that. The ground rumbled and by my spinning around, I saw why: we were being charged by more than a dozen Hork-Bajir. "Ah; here comes the cavalry," Visser One said. I huffed and turned back around to shoot her, but Jake rammed his head into the back of my leg, motioning me to attack the cavalry first.

Fine; I'll kill them first, then kill the Visser. I raised my weapon, and the Hork-Bajir stopped dead in their tracks. ((Jake! We have a problem!)) Tobias shouted.

((What now?!))

((Marco's not fighting Visser Three! He's coming into the field!))

Jake roared a profanity into our heads and shouted, ((Marco! Don't be stupid!))

((She's going to kill my _mother_!)) he replied, just as angrily.

((Ax, go help the others!))

((Understood.)) Aximili left our hiding place and had to manoeuvre around trees to get out of the clearing and join the fight with Tobias, Rachel and Cassie.

The Hork-Bajir came at us again. Jake looked up at me and I nodded. No mercy. Kill them quick then go stop Marco from doing whatever. TSEEW! TSEEW! Again and again. One Hork-Bajir after another fell to the ground. Jake started fighting once they reached us, but by then there were only three left, and I shot them down before Jake could pounce on one of them.

((Jake, we could use some reinforcements!)) Tobias shouted. ((If Visser Three hits Rachel one more time, she'll die!))

I didn't want to think about what the Visser had morphed to fight my friends, but if it could take down Rachel, then it was deadly. Jake muttered a curse again. He looked at me. ((Sarah, get in there.))

"No," I whispered.

((Sarah, help the others NOW!))

"No."

((Sarah, you don't understand. You need to help them because they're dying! Whatever Visser One did to you in your past just forget it for now! Save them or the world is lost!))

"I don't care about Earth right now." That was the truth. All I could feel was contempt, rage, sorrow… All I wanted to do was kill Visser One and end the suffering I was feeling.

((Look, Sarah, this isn't the time for a heart to heart talk about how she hurt you, but I will say this: if you don't go to save the others, then you are so out of this team!))

It took all that I had to finally say, "Fine." I walked towards the part of the woods that Aximili left the field from. The whole situation was only making me angrier, but I had to listen to the orders of my leader. Not to mention I still wanted to be part of the team.

I felt the ground rumble again and a few seconds later, after finally getting over a rather annoying bush, I heard Jake shout, ((Wait, Sarah! Get back here and help!))

I instantly turned around, jumped over the bush again, and came by my leader's side. Another dozen or so Hork-Bajir showed up. I took them all down instantly. TSEEW! TSEEW! I don't know how much shots I had left.

((Shit,)) Jake muttered. ((Tobias' team needs help, Marco's being a baby, and I need you to keep the Hork-Bajir away. And I can't go help because then _you'll_ do something stupid.))

((Jake! The sooner the better!)) Tobias said.

((I get it, Tobias!)) Jake yelled. He was silent in thought for a moment. ((Alright, I'm going to go help them, but I swear, Sarah, if you do anything stupid, I will kill you myself.))

My eyes glazed over as I looked at him. He looked at me and saw neither agreement nor rebellion, and I guess that was good enough for him, because then he left the forest as discretely as he could to join the fight and save the others.

I stood there for only a second longer. Jake may have given me an order, but I didn't care. He doesn't know what it's like. How could he? His past was perfect. Every time I looked at Visser One, I felt rage and a flash of bad memories from when I would come in contact with her. The sooner she died, the calmer my soul will be.

Besides, killing her won't be stupid. A lot of good things will come from her death. Therefore, Jake's order not to do anything stupid would still be obeyed. I raised my weapon and cautiously stepped into the clearing where Visser One was standing, next to a gorilla. They must have been talking to each other, because the Visser's attention was focused on Marco and didn't focus on me until I came into view.

I never knew a gorilla could adopt a look of hatred, but looking at Marco, I saw it. I only raised my weapon higher. I had perfect aim. Visser One could run and Marco could try to stop me, but if I pulled the trigger, she would die. Oh, what a wonderful moment that would be: to watch her lifeless body fall to the ground.

"Well, well, well," Visser One said, when I entered the field, weapon charged on her. She was smiling in a sarcastic manner. "I haven't seen you in years. How are you?"

I snarled. "I'll be great in a few seconds, when I watch the life drain out of your eyes."

Her grin only grew wider. She seemed completely amicable about the fact that I had a weapon aimed at her. "The rumours that Visser Three's former pet surviving the Dome ship crash a few months ago are true, I see. I'm glad to see you're alive. It'll certainly be interesting news for the Council. You're proof that the Yeerks can't trust anyone unless they have a Yeerk in their head."

"I don't care about your pathetic politics war with Visser Three."

"Sure you do. Why else haven't you fired yet?"

I frowned worse and growled. I quickly looked at Marco, who was only slightly confused by what was just said. I could tell by his stance that if I did pull the trigger, he'd be attacking me. I looked back at the Visser and all she did was chuckle in the most annoying way.

"I see you've already figured it out."

"Figured what out?" I muttered. I already knew the answer.

"Don't be stupid, Sarah. If I die, who do you think will be Visser One?"

I gripped the Dracon Beam in my hands, and said stupidly, "Visser Two."

She laughed. "That nobody is off in another galaxy, gaining no respect or popularity. No, he won't be promoted. Visser Three, for all his blundering stupidity, is still very popular in the empire. He still remains to be the only Andalite-Controller, and is also responsible for the death of everyone's favourite Andalite Prince. Elfangor was your brother, right?" She smiled and added, or more like spat, "Pity."

I stepped closer to her and gripped the trigger so tightly that a single jerk of my finger would create an 'accidental' discharge. I didn't care that Marco was standing there, or that more Hork-Bajir had come out of the forest. She just insulted the memory of my brother and she would never be forgiven for it.

"I see that you've grown considerably since I saw you last," the annoying Visser continued, completely disregarding the fact that I had a Dracon Beam almost right in her face. "You'd be about… Thirteen now, right?"

"Stop talking," I demanded. I knew it was a useless order. She wouldn't listen to me. Not to mention we both knew I couldn't kill her yet. My rage and contempt for her was nothing compared to what I felt about Visser Three. And I would not allow him to become Visser One. I would have to kill him, first.

But she was still annoying the hell out of me. "I see you've already had some contact with humans. Considerable contact. I bet you have some human friends, as well."

"I don't have friends. Much less human ones."

"I'm not stupid, Sarah. Look at your hair and clothes. They look very nice, by the way. They look expensive. You hair looks professionally done and your clothes have designer labels. Now, I know that you, being raised by Yeerks and Andalites, would have no clue how to shop for such nice clothes and even less clue when it comes to hair. Therefore, you must have had human help, and I seriously doubt just any human would help you unless he or she was your friend."

I snarled. Damn it, Rachel! I objected and she insisted. I knew I shouldn't have allowed her to drag me around the mall to get clothes for me. I knew it would all come back to bite me in the ass.

Marco looked at me with what was probably anger for allowing me to look like this. I snarled at him, too. Visser One's grin just grew wider as she realized the truth. "Do your Andalite friends know you have human friends?"

"Shut up!" I roared.

"Now, now. No need to be angry. You've always been an angry little girl." She spoke to me as if I was a child. That alone made me angry. "Would you tell your mother to shut up like that?"

"You are _not_ my mother," I muttered. My eyes flashed at Marco for a second and I saw a twang of pain flash across his gorilla face for a moment.

"That's too bad. It would be easier to sway your mind if this host really was your mother." She snickered. "Remember when I told you my host had a son about your age?" I charged the Beam again and brought it closer to her head. The only thing that did was make her annoying grin go wider. She knew that she was annoying me. "My host almost wishes you were her daughter, too. She likes you."

"If you speak another word, I will blow your head off! I don't care what happens to Visser Three. Even he never annoyed me this much!" I tried very hard not to look at Marco and I almost succeeded.

She raised her hands in a mock defeated look. "Alright, alright." She laughed at me. Oh, one day, I will kill her. One day _very_ soon!

Unfortunately, that day was not today. I heard something come into the field, but it was not any of my friends: it was Visser Three. Immediately I assumed the worst. He must have killed them, or worse.

Visser One's grin disappeared when the other Visser walked in. When Visser Three saw me, with my Beam trained on Visser One, he stopped immediately. Whether he was expecting me to shoot her before him or not was irrelevant: I instantly pointed the weapon at him upon his arrival. I bet Marco looked relieved, though I tried not to look at him.

((Who are you going to kill first?)) Visser Three asked. ((Me, or the most import Visser in the empire?))

"That's a stupid question," I replied. "You already know the answer to that." I charged the weapon in my hand.

Visser Three chucked in my head. ((Fine, kill me. If I die, your Andalite friends die, as well.))

I stopped. Damn it; why does nothing want to work in my favour? "What did you do with them?" Visser One asked.

I realized how ridiculous I looked: I was standing almost beside Visser One, with a giant gorilla on the other side of her, with a weapon charged at Visser Three in my hand. If a third party was looking at the situation, he'd think I was working for Visser One. That made me angry.

((I got rid of them. Isn't that what you wanted?))

"You didn't capture them? That's strange."

((What do you care? They are not your concern.))

"You're right. They're not. Now that they're out of the way, we can wait for the hikers to get here with the item and we can make the exchange. That is, unless your former right hand doesn't kill you first." She grinned, but this time, I knew how to wipe it off her face without having Marco kill me later.

I said, "Or unless everyone's least favourite Visser got rid of the hikers."

Visser One's grin was gone again. This time, I grinned. "What did you do with the hikers?" she demanded.

Visser Three smiled the way only an Andalite can smile. ((I decided to speed up the process. I have the hikers. Which means the item is mine. That means I just have to give you a verbal confession about how you retrieved the item and gave it to me out of pity.)) He just stood there, radiating evil and smugness. ((But, of course, if I give the item to the Council myself, then I don't look like a fool and _you_ do. I wonder what I will do?))

Visser One snarled. "Kill him!" she demanded, as if she expected me to kill him because of her order.

But I said, "No."

"You wanted to a second ago!"

"A second ago he didn't have my friends. I don't care about your politics war with Visser Three. I just want my friends back."

Visser Three 'grinned' again. ((If you kill her, I will return them immediately.))

I saw Marco glare at me after the offer was made. I think he was worried about what I would do. He had no need to worry. "Like I can trust you. Especially after this little display."

((Very well. You can try to get them back by force. Alas, however, you have no idea where they are. Visser One may, but working with her would grant her an exciting count of treason. That would be an interesting sight to see. By all means, Visser, help them find their friends.))

And with that, he again left the field and left Marco and I alone with Visser One. I re-aimed the weapon back at her. Now I definitely couldn't kill her yet. As hard as it was for me to admit it, I needed her. She knew how to get my friends back.

There was a seriously uncomfortable silence before Visser One spoke. "It looks like we're all in a little predicament."

"What's in it for you?" I asked immediately.

She snarled. "I think you know. It has to do with my pathetic politics war."

"Why would you, Visser One, be so stupid as to leave an item with the hikers without watching them?"

"Because he doesn't know which hiker has the item, and even the hiker doesn't know. I figured he would be intelligent. He could have easily fabricated a lie to tell the Council how he retrieved the item, even if he made a verbal account against it. But he decided to be stupid and capture the hikers and the item _and_ your Andalite friends. Now if he goes back to the Council _I_ will look like a fool."

"So far, you're not making a convincing argument as to why I should help you."

She huffed. "I also know exactly where he is going with your friends, but I need you otherwise I'll be charged with treason."

"You'll be charged anyway. Didn't you hear Visser Three?"

She scoffed. "I would have thought that after being adopted by Andalites you would realize that not everything Visser Three says is correct. As long as you're with me, I can tell the Council that I was forced."

I looked at Marco. I saw in his eyes hatred for me, but significantly less so. I figured he knew I wasn't going to kill his mother. At least, not yet. He spoke to me for the first time since approaching Visser One. ((We've got no choice but to help her, you know.)) Reluctantly, I nodded.

"Now that we're in agreement -"

"Listen here, right now," I interrupted. "At the slightest sign of betrayal, I will kill you. I will disregard anything else. I will not allow the world to be destroyed and if I have to sacrifice my friends to save the world, I will."

I was bluffing big time, but my face remained emotionless. Visser One just said, "I won't betray you just yet. I need you as much as you need me right now. But I hold the same threat to you, substituting the world for my reputation."

I nodded. I thought. "The only thing I can think of to seal the deal is to touch tails with you, but neither of us have a tail."

She extended her hand to me. "Let's do it the human way then."

I took her hand and we shook on it. Her grip was incredibly strong, for a human female. I glanced at Marco and I could almost swear that he was smiling through his gorilla mask…


	4. Chapter 4

_You should not see the desert simply as some faraway place of little rain. There are many forms of thirst -- William Langewiesche_

"We are approaching the coordinates, ma'am," the Hork-Bajir pilot announced. We managed to cram a Hork-Bajir, two humans and a gorilla into the tiny cock-pit of the Bug Fighter Visser One arrived in. I had no idea where we were going, and Visser One neglected to tell me. I had my weapon ever-trained on her, watching for the slightest display of betrayal.

Marco was telling me over and over again how little time he had left in his morph. I was hoping Visser One wasn't taking this long on purpose. When the announcement was made, I looked through the tiny window at the scene below.

Desert. We were approaching a desert. I looked back at Visser One, eyebrow raised. She said, "Visser Three has an encampment setup here. He would be here as opposed to anywhere else most likely as a precaution; to make sure a Yeerk loyal to me wouldn't try to sabotage his plans."

The Hork-Bajir pilot slowly settled the Bug Fighter onto the sand. When we were on the ground completely, the cloak was dropped. "We're not anywhere near the encampment," I pointed out.

"Of course not. We'd be detected if we were. This is as close as we can get. If we hurry, we can reach the encampment in about a day."

((A day?!)) Marco shouted. I don't think he meant to say anything, but his expression is exactly what I was going to say. If Jake and the others are in morph, a day would be _way_ too long.

Visser One just said, "If we get any closer, we'll all die anyway. This is the best that I can do."

"You're Visser One: do better."

She snarled at me. We may be working together on this one mission, but we still didn't have to like one another. And I still wanted to blow her brains out. I will when we complete the task at hand. That I knew for sure.

The door hissed open and a wave of desert heat hit my face. The sun was far too bright, as well. The Hork-Bajir said, "I will resume cloak and await further instructions here." Visser One nodded.

"The encampment is almost entirely straight ahead," she said.

I didn't move. Not yet. I took something out of my pocket that the old lady bought for me one day. She thought that it would come in handy, and I found that I admired it too much to just disregard it. Besides, now I found a use for it. It was a long, triangular piece of fabric, blue in colour, which I tied around my forehead as a bandana.

After equipping it, I said, "Here are the rules: I make them. This is _my_ mission, _my_ orders and you will do as _I_ say. I am taking full responsibility for the outcome of this mission, is that understood?" I stared at Marco as I said this. I am taking _full_ responsibility. As in, if anything happens to his mother, I am taking _full_ responsibility.

"Perfectly," Visser One responded.

I pointed the Beam at her and added, "And I don't want to hear anything annoying come out of your mouth. You don't have to be conscious for this mission to succeed."

She replied, "I understand. This is your mission. Lead away, Sarah."

((Yeah. Take it away, _Lara Croft_.)) I couldn't help but smile. It was the first time in days I could do that with him.

While keeping Visser One ahead of me, we walked out of the Fighter. As soon as all three of us were on the desert sand, the ship cloaked and took off. We were alone in a huge desert, and I just realized how little I knew what to do. I haven't led an army in ages. Not to mention this wasn't much of a battle situation: this was a reconnaissance mission. I was to stealthily take my troops into an encampment and quietly rescue my friends. This kind of thing I wasn't good at.

Marco, however, was good at it. He said, ((Sarah, let's start marching. We'll worry about the _how_ after we get there.))

So I made my feet move. Visser One followed, but I made sure she was always slightly ahead of me, so I could keep my eye on her. She carried on her back a sort of pack, which was no doubt filled with desert necessities. After what will be almost a full day of hiking, I figured we'd need some necessities.

The wind of the desert picked up and blew sand in my face constantly. At one point, Marco lingered in the back and informed me to look in the air, where I saw him fly up high in the air as a bird. He would need to adopt a more desert-appropriate bird morph, like a vulture. He must have realized this because when he saw a flock of vultures, he completely veered away from us and went over to them.

"It looks like your friend is getting into the desert mood," Visser One said, panting slightly.

I guessed that, in being a high ranking leader type, she wasn't used to getting down and dirty, so the desert must have been hard to bare. Fortunately for me, I _was_ used to it and the desert almost didn't affect me. Almost. I replied, "I told you not to speak."

"You told me not to talk about anything annoying. I was merely making a point."

"Stop talking. Conserve energy." I was sweating pretty hard, but I wasn't panting. Yet. We had only been hiking for twenty minutes. How were we going to make it?

"We should hike by night. We'll never make it by day."

"Don't give me orders. Visser Three is expecting us to do that. Besides, the sooner we get there, the better. We go by day."

"As you wish." While still walking, she took of her pack and opened it. She took out two water pouches and gave one to me. After putting the pack back on, she said, "Try to conserve that. We'll also need to find a secondary water source."

"I told you not to give orders. I make them, remember? And I already knew this."

Visser One just grinned. I saw Marco flying back towards us as a vulture and hovered just slightly above us. He was within hearing range and he was acting like a vulture. Very good: he knew what he was doing.

I held up my pouch of water, but Marco just said, ((No thanks. I'm surprisingly not that thirsty right now.))

"My host has memories of hiking with her family," Visser One said.

I instantly replied, "I don't care."

She completely ignored me. "One time, they were camping and her son got lost."

"Don't care, don't care, don't care." Just in time, I resisted the urge to look up. I didn't want to hear stories about Marco as a kid. It would be bad for both of us. First of all, I had no right to his mother's stories, and secondly, hearing them from the filthy mouth of a Yeerk would not be good for him.

She still ignored me. "My host spent four hours trying to find him. Of course, this was in a forest as opposed to a desert, but she didn't rest until she found him, shivering by a stream."

((Actually, it was only two hours,)) Marco corrected, sadly. ((And it wasn't by a stream: she found me walking back into the forest.))

"Stop talking!" I yelled. I said this to Marco, but the Visser assumed it was aimed at her. She grinned her annoying, holier-than-thou grin and finally stopped talking. I looked at her. "You will _not_ tell any more stories about your host or her family, is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," she said, sarcastically. She knew she was annoying me and she was playing on that. I hated her so much.

The whole exchange cost us more energy, more water and more pain than I wanted us to waste. If we didn't find a secondary water source soon, we would dehydrate in a matter of hours. I looked up at the circling vulture and pointed at my water pouch. I said, "Find an oasis or something!"

((Got it.)) He flapped away from us, not too far, and began looking. By this time, Visser One was panting far too hard to say anything sarcastic. She didn't even bother trying to hide her exhaustion. I was no better off: I sweat off most of the water I had in my body and my legs were hurting big time. My hiking pace had slowed down to less than half what it was when we started.

We were out in this desert for an hour. Probably less than that. It felt like years already. Marco hadn't returned with any news on an oasis. There was no more saliva in my mouth. We had to rest, but there was no shade anywhere. The wind had picked up as well and was flying sand all over the place. I had doomed us all to death, just because I didn't want to listen to Visser One when she suggested we go by night.

She knew what I was thinking. I know she knew, because when she looked at me, despite her exhaustion, she had that smugness about her. I guess you don't get to be Visser One by being stupid, even if she never actually hiked in a desert before.

At long last, just before we collapsed from heat exhaustion, Marco came flying back into view. His voice seemed far off as he said, ((I found a sort of pond a few yards away, over that dune. If you can make it over there, you should be fine.))

I nodded and veered off the course we were walking. Visser One stayed with me. It took us more than ten minutes to get over the dune. All I could think of was how I could have got over it in half the time if I still had my strength. Once we got over it, I saw the pond as well. It looked so beautiful to my eyes, even if it was small and muddy-looking. The path to get to it was almost all downhill, and so I practically slid all the way there. I saw Visser One mimic my movements.

When we approached it, I saw just how small it was. It was no bigger than a small pool and judging by the wet sand surrounding it, it must be evaporating. It looked like a slow process, though, because the dunes surrounding it blocked most of the sun, so at the very least, it was shady here.

Trying not to look weak in front of Visser One, I resisted the urge to dunk my face in the water. Visser One looked equally determined. Marco landed on the other side of the pond and said to me, ((Come on, Sarah. You look like you're going to faint or something. Drink the water. Or are you afraid it's not drinkable? I'll go first.)) He hobbled toward it and put his vulture beak in the water to drink some. ((A little dirty tasting, but not bad.))

"Aren't you going to get some?" Visser One said.

"After you," I replied. Neither of us moved. The way we were thinking was a matter of pride: whoever drank first was weaker. If I went first, my position as leader would be compromised for more than one reason: first, the leader is supposed to water the troops before embellishing, and second, the leader is not supposed to appear weak in front of the troops. On the other hand, if Visser One drank first, her big talk and boasting would no longer hold the same weight, as she could not be taken seriously afterwards.

((What are you guys waiting for? Just drink the water!))

"I guess it's a matter of who can hold out longer," I said. I sat down in the sand, ignoring my body's cries for a taste of the water so close to me mouth. Visser One grinned and sat down across from me, watching me as I did her.

((You two are acting like-))

"There's a change in plans," I interrupted. "We travel by night from now on. So for the remainder of the day, we will rest."

Marco instantly said, ((That's not a good idea. Jake and the others could be dead or worse by then.))

"No choice. You're comfortable in that vulture morph, but the Visser can't morph, and therefore we have to preserve that human body of hers, and the only way to do that is to expose it to as little sun as possible."

"I also suggest we get some sleep." She emphasized the word 'suggest', meaning she was trying to give and order, but was also mocking me because I was the leader.

"You can sleep if you want. I will not."

She smirked at me. I knew she would try not to sleep as well. Resting certainly helped ease the heat exhaustion. The shade helped, as well. After regaining some of our strength, Visser One opened her pack again and took out three plastic containers with food inside. She tossed one to me and Marco. I caught mine and Marco moved over a bit so that his landed softly on the ground in front of him.

"I brought enough for the three of use for about one more day," Visser One explained, taking the top off her container. "Which, by the way, due to the delay now, it will take us almost another day to reach our destination."

I ignored her. I just hoped that Jake and the others would find a way to keep from getting stuck in morph, killed, or captured for that amount of time. I popped the top off my container as well and saw that the Visser had packed a sandwich, cut into two triangles, with bologna and mustard, as well as an apple, a bit mushy from the extreme heat, and a small bag of chips. Ruffled.

I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a huge look of confusion. She just smiled, strangely enough, not sarcastically. "I would explain, but you ordered me not to talk about my host anymore."

Marco, instead, decided to explain. ((Mom's specialty was always bologna sandwiches cut in triangles. I liked it.))

"Why doesn't your friend demorph and eat?" the Visser asked, taking a bite of her apple and analyzing Marco. He looked back at her, expressionless, as a bird could do.

I found there was a good way to explain. "Do you know much about Andalites? They don't like deserts, as they eat through their hooves. He would end up absorbing the sand, and that's not good for him. Besides, the lunch you packed could not be eaten by an Andalite." I held up a triangle. "It appears to be something a mouth would be required for."

"Which works perfectly, anyway," Visser One said. "Vultures can eat anything."

((I have to demorph soon. I'll eat quickly and make an excuse to fly off for a few minutes.))

The apple, although a bit dry, still held inside it a bit of moisture that seemed to drain the pride the Visser and I shared. We both went to the pool to drink some water and put some in our pouches for later. I don't remember which of us took the first sip. I don't think it mattered, anyway.

After our lunch, I saw the sun sink in the horizon slightly. I still got no sleep. Marco had already flown off and came back with a fresh two hours on his plate. I felt sorry for him; there was no way to tell time out here, and he couldn't get any sleep even if he wanted it, because he could run the risk of getting stuck as a vulture.

The three of us were very quiet for a very long time before Visser One asked, "Remember the first time we met?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed angrily. "I couldn't forget even if I wanted to."

"I don't think it was a bad meeting."

"You stabbed me in the shoulder to prove I was loyal." I rubbed my shoulder involuntarily.

"Actually, it was more to prove if you would attack me afterward."

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about it anymore." As an after thought I added, "Or anything else with you, either."

"You told me not to talk about my host. Well fine. But I, Visser One, haven't seen you in years. I want to catch up."

"I don't," I snarled. I was still sitting very straight, fighting my eyes to keep them open. Visser One was sitting a ways off, looking very much like she wasn't tired at all. She probably was, but could keep her host from showing it.

She chuckled a bit, and ignored me as usual. "Remember when you were about six or seven and we worked together to take over the Signus system?"

I scoffed. "I didn't have much of a choice there, did I? It was either that or execution. I believe those were the exact choices you gave me."

"You did object, though."

"Visser Three told me to. Then you threatened to drop me off a cliff until he agreed."

"But with your help, we took the planet in a matter of months."

"Wonderful," I muttered sarcastically. I could see Marco looking at me very strangely, even though it was through the eyes of a bird.

It's not like I wanted to, I thought. Then again, it's not like I didn't want to, either. I had no emotions back then. I was completely robotic. I just did what I was told. It wasn't until Elfangor taught me the true ways of the universe that I began to regret everything.

Now talking about what I did in the past hurt, and I didn't want to remember. But the accursed Visser One simply would not shut up. "Remember also the time when -"

"Stop talking, damn it!" I almost shouted. The sun had all but left the sky, and it was almost time to move again. "From now on, you are not allowed to speak unless it's important, or I give you permission. And when you speak, it will have nothing to do with either your host or our past. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly," she said, smirking in a most annoying way.

Marco said, ((We should get going now.))

I nodded and stood up. Visser One rose as well. "We're ready to go again."

"Veering off to this little pond took us off course. We need to get over the dune and waste ten minutes getting back on track.

((How do we even know where to go exactly?)) Marco asked.

I thought he was just talking to me, but then Visser One answered, "I have a device that tells me where I am and where we need to go."

"How does it work?" I asked.

She grinned. She was showing off. "I tagged the human that has the item, so I would always know where he is, in case he got lost."

I held out my hand. "Give me the device. I'm the leader."

She reached into her pocket and took out a small, handheld machine. It kind of looked like a small GameBoy, with a screen and a keypad. She handed it to me and I saw on the screen two flashing dots: one was red and the other was green. Judging by the positions, I assumed we were the red dot.

"Does Visser Three have a device like this?" I asked.

"Of course, but I would like to see him tag me or you or even your friends."

I nodded and, using the device, I managed to navigate us out of the pond area and back on course to our destination. I was still analyzing the machine when I pointed to a white square outline on the screen. Neither of the dots was in it and it was only slightly off course to our destination. "What's this box?" I asked.

Visser One looked over my shoulder. I didn't realize just how much taller she was than me until she did that. "That's a Yeerk Relief Station. The main building is _this_ one, of course, but if a Yeerk was on patrol, or on the lookout, he would go here. It has a Yeerk pool and a small, portable Kandrona, as well."

"We need to avoid that building then," I said. "We should go this way. It'll add another hour or so to the journey, but at least we won't be in range of whoever is looking out there."

"You're the leader," Visser One said, moving away from me and continuing the hike. She sounded like she was going to object or ask something, but she was silent.

Marco said, ((It's getting very dark out. This vulture would rather be in the daytime, mostly because more animals and such die during the day. I need to find a nocturnal morph.))

"Try to find something that could attack if necessary," I suggested.

I heard the hesitation in his 'voice'. ((Why?))

He was worried I would order him to attack his mother. I said, "In case we come across a Hork-Bajir or something."

((Oh.)) He veered away from us again and flapped quite far away.

"Just you and me for a while, huh?" Visser One said.

"That comment was neither important nor said with permission," I retorted. She grinned at me, but said nothing.

It was hours before Marco came back. He actually almost snuck up on me. I didn't hear or see him until I turned around to see him walking behind me. I think he might have been kidding around, but he made no indication of it.

He was actually in a Coyote morph. How he got that close to one, I didn't feel like asking. Either way, it was a perfect morph for night travel. Truth be told, I wanted him in a fighting morph because my night vision isn't as good as it used to be. If we were ambushed by Hork-Bajir, I wanted some alert so I could take aim before getting cut down.

The sun was completely gone now. Only the stars provided light, as did the moon. Unfortunately, the moon was only a crescent, and therefore didn't provide much lighting. The desert, large and overwhelming during the day, was even worse at night. I could hardly see anything except sand and dark shadows. It was also fairly cold, considering it was a desert. The wind blew around us, and sounded like a ghost in the total silence. No animal activity, no movement; nothing.

Now I understood why Visser Three chose a desert for his hidden encampment. It would be so easy to ambush anything out here. ((Kind of eerie, this quiet,)) Marco commented.

"Keep your eyes and ears open," I said, "I feel so much like we're being watched."

"A desert will do that to you," Visser One said.

"What do you know of deserts?"

"More than you'd think."

Maybe it was from lack of sleep, or maybe it was because I was working with Visser One on this mission, or it could even have been because the desert played with my head, but for some reason, I was very tense and anxious. I'm usually relaxed and calm. The desert was huge and mostly unexplored. Maybe I just didn't like something I didn't understand…


	5. Chapter 5

_Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It's not a thing to be waited for - it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan_

We hiked the whole night. I was very tired by this point. So was everyone else. When the sun started poking up again, I asked Marco to look for another source of water and this time he didn't return for a long, long time. When he came back to report, the only water source he could find was dangerously close to the Yeerk Relief Station.

I had to make a decision. Will we ignore the water source and continue hiking until we find another one or collapse, or do we go there to rest and run the risk of getting into a confrontation? I decided to choose the latter, on account of Visser One looked ready to fall over.

We approached the water cautiously. It was even smaller and muddier than the other one, and it didn't have tall dunes to provide shade, but it was all we had. We sat down near the puddle and filled our pouches again. Visser One said, "I have something that could make shade, if we need it."

Of course we needed it. The question is, was it worth the risk? "Let's set it up," I said. Out of her pack, she took out four pegs and a huge cloth. It looked almost like a bed sheet. We stuck the pegs into the ground, and tied the sheet around them. It took a while, but we managed to create an embarrassing looking tent. Either way, the shade it created certainly helped against the sun, which seemed to only grow brighter and hotter.

Visser One then took out another lunch, in a plastic container, with the same items as before. Marco had re-adopted his vulture form. He must have been even more tired than the rest of us, considering all the morphing and demorphing he had to do. But he made no mention of it, and ate his food quietly.

"I have a request," Visser One said, after taking a small bite from her sandwich.

I looked up at her confusingly. She never asked that before. Usually she just comes out and says whatever she wants to say. "What is it?"

She didn't reply right away. She finished one triangle before she finally made her request. "It's been roughly three days since my last visit to a Yeerk Pool."

I lost my appetite. I knew what she was going to ask next. I looked at Marco, who also didn't feel like eating anymore, and he glared at me. He knew as well what she'd say, and since it was my mission and my responsibility, whatever answer I give is on me.

"The Relief Station, as I stated before, has a pool and a portable Kandrona."

"And you think we're going to let you replenish yourself? You've got to be joking. A chance to starve Visser One? We are so taking that opportunity." And when Marco looked at me, I saw through his vulture eyes and saw he agreed with me.

"You need me to get your friends back," she pointed out. "When we get to the encampment, who do you think has the code to get in?"

An easy answer. "If you know the code, then so does your host."

She smirked. "After putting in the code, the security device scans your head for the presence of a Yeerk. When finding nothing there, it sounds the alarm. Your friends will be executed on the spot."

I hesitated, but replied, "Then I could morph a Yeerk and take your host until the code is put in." Marco looked at me. I hope he saw my bluff, but at the same time, I hope the Visser did not.

Nevertheless, she replied, "It also scans for DNA. Whatever Yeerk morph you have is not Visser One."

"Then I'll acquire your DNA."

"You can't. Even if I was starved out, my DNA would disperse. And if I go into a Yeerk Pool, I can erect a shield around it until I touch an ear. You cannot get my DNA. Your only hope is to trust me. Trust, or your friends die and the planet is taken. Is that what you want?"

She was lying. She had to be. And yet, somehow, I knew she wasn't. Now I had an even harder choice to make: starve out Visser One and let my friends die, or allow her to replenish Kandrona rays and continue our journey.

I knew it had to be the latter choice. Marco was glaring at me again. He knew what choice we had to make. ((There has to be another way,)) he protested. ((Please don't agree to this.))

"We have no choice," I muttered. The Visser grinned. I instantly raised my weapon and charged it at her. Her grin disappeared. "We'll let you have your rays, but it will be the only time. If you feel as if you're starving again, then we'll let it happen."

"I understand."

((No! Don't do it, Sarah. Come on! Maybe if we keep hiking we can get there before it happens.))

"The Station is guarded round the clock," the Visser explained. Marco kept objecting to me, making alternate plans that would not work. I couldn't tell him to shut up, because it would look suspicious. So, amid his objections, I tried to hear what the Visser was saying, so we could find a way to get in, get her Kandrona rays, and get out without being seen. "There's a group of Yeerks in the pool every minute of every hour except for a brief fifteen minute window close to the end of the hour. I have to get into the pool during those fifteen minutes."

"Will fifteen minutes suffice?"

((No it won't! A _single_ minute is too long!))

"A Yeerk is better off feeding for an hour or longer, but fifteen minutes should be enough to buy me another day."

"When exactly is the window?"

((Sarah, I will never forgive you if you let this plan go through!))

"Alright, that's it! Shut up, please!" I screamed. Visser One, who was not privy to Marco's pleas, had no idea what I was screaming about and actually jumped. Marco was quiet instantly. "If you have a better idea, by all means, tell us. Give us an idea that will _not_ result in everything we're fighting for to blow up in our faces. Go on!"

Marco said nothing. He _knew_ we had to do this. He _knew_. He just didn't like it. When he was silent again, I nodded to the Visser and she answered my question. "The next window is about a half hour from now."

"And we're almost right next to the Station. We need to get in and get out fast."

"One of you will, of course, have to hold the host while I feed. So she doesn't try to escape or give away our position."

((I volunteer.))

"No," I said instantly. "You will not. I will do it. And we both know why." Marco would compromise the situation. He would not be able to listen to her pleas and cries for help without helping. "You will make sure that no one comes in during those fifteen minutes, and try to create a distraction if such a case were unavoidable."

((I know you don't want me to do it because she's my mother, but I have to. Trust me, will you?))

"I do," I said, sincerely, "but there's another reason why you can't do it."

((And that is?))

I sighed. "How many aliens have you infested with Yeerks? How many times have you dunked a head into the Yeerk Pool? Do you know what it's like to force someone to give up their freedom? To hear their cries and threats and pleas and completely ignore them? How many times have you done it?"

((Obviously none, Sarah. How many times have _you_ done it?))

"12, 561 times," I replied. "Oh, wait, 62 times; I once helped hold down Visser Three's host while he fed."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Visser One broke it. "We need to get going or we'll miss the opportunity." I helped her dismantle our makeshift tent. Once it was in her pack, we began to slowly march toward the Station. Marco flew overhead to make sure no one was coming or watching. Once he made sure, I told him to get out of the sky: we couldn't run the risk of being seen.

We reached the door twenty minutes later. There was a key pad on the door, awaiting an access code. I cursed silently. "I don't know what Visser Three's code is anymore."

"And mine would attract attention."

"I have an idea. Hold this." I slammed my weapon into her hands and began to morph. My back got hard as I shrank. Antennae shot out of my forehead and I grew some more legs. My eyelids disappeared, as did my mouth. The smaller I got, the more I noticed the hole in the door, very close to the bottom of the door. It was an incredibly small opening, but my roach body knew that I could fit through it.

Despite the roach's instincts that were screaming "run, run, run!" I squeezed through the hole and emerged on the other side. I couldn't see anything, but I could smell. No one was nearby. I began to demorph again. When I was fully human once more, I saw on the other side of the door a button to press. Once pressed, the door opened, without having to put in an access code or raise an alarm.

I immediately took the weapon back from Visser One. We began to stealthily walk down the corridors. Visser One directed us, telling us which turns to take and where the guards were posted.

I wish I hadn't morphed. The desert was exhausting and my anxiety only rose with each step. The morph drained me considerably of energy. I felt like either sleeping or dying or something. I actually allowed Visser One to take the lead this time. I didn't feel like my mind was ready just yet. I hoped I wouldn't have to morph again in this desert.

"It's right here," Visser One whispered. "We should just be entering the fifteen minute window. There will probably be someone in there."

"That's why I have a weapon," I muttered. I opened the door very quickly, to shock whoever was on the other side. It worked. The one Hork-Bajir that was there, who looked as if he just finished feeding, was taken aback by my presence. Before he could even mutter, "Andalite," I had shot him. His body fell backwards and the Yeerk inside him liquefied and oozed out of the Hork-Bajir's ear. They were both dead.

Marco said, ((Was killing him necessary?))

"Yes. Even if we get out without being seen, he would have still told his superiors about our presence." I secured the rest of the area and closed the door. I walked back to the small Yeerk Pool and looked in. There were no Yeerks in it. Visser One stood over it, but she couldn't release the host until I had a hold on it.

This was it. I would commit a sinful act against Earth and humanity, all for the sake of Earth and humanity. But the worst part is I would do it to Marco's mother, and he was sitting in his vulture morph close to the door. He glared at me and said nothing. This was not going to be easy for me, but it would be worse for him. I thought of giving him an order, but I knew he wouldn't obey it.

"We only have fifteen minutes," Visser One reminded me. I nodded. She knelt down by the Pool and I set my weapon on the ground beside me. Then, I took her right arm and held it behind her back, so that the released host wouldn't have any leverage to move around. Finally, I put my other hand on top of her head and gently lowered it to the Pool. When the ear was close enough, I felt, rather than saw, the Yeerk exit the ear and plop into the mucky water.

Only chaos ensued after that.

"Let me up! Let me up!" the host cried.

_"If you let that host escape, I will kill you myself."_

_"You can't do this to me! I have a family!"_

_"Your family is Yeerks now."_

_"No! No! Let me up! Let me up!"_

_"Only five hundred more hosts to enslave, Sarah, and then you can go back to your master."_

_"Get me out of here!"_

_"You evil wench!"_

"Sarah, let me go! Please!"

I shook my head back to reality. I was holding Visser One's host over the small Pool. I suddenly remembered where I was. I then realized the pleading I was hearing was coming from the host I held onto now.

I had a firm grip on her. "That stuff about giving her fifteen minutes… That was just to shut her up, right? You're not really going to put that filthy thing back in me, are you? You're going to find a way to let me go, right?"

"I…" I couldn't say anything. I was still trying not to think about the ten thousand other hosts who pleaded with me the same way.

"Please, Sarah. Please let me go! I have to get back to my family! They need me!"

She was far too loud. Our position would be compromised. "Shut up!" I hissed.

"Let me go! Let me go now!" She struggled. For a human female, she really was strong. Or perhaps I was just weak right now. Either way, I had to ram her body into the ground before she stopped, and even then, it took all my strength to keep her there.

"Don't you know anything? If we get caught, everyone dies!" I tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen to me.

"Help! Please let me up! You can find a way, right? You can find a different way!"

"There is no other way!" I yelled back. That made her stop struggling. A little more quietly, I said, "If you have a better way, by all means, tell me."

Then she started crying. Oh, here we go. As if the struggling was bad enough. "Please shut up," I hissed.

Through her tears, she said, "I just want to go home and see my husband and son."

"I told you not to talk about -" I stopped after realizing I _was_ talking to the host.

She grieved so perversely. It came out in waves and bursts. Tears and wails, dying down to blubbering and convulsions. All the while I was holding her down. I've infested so many hosts before and I never batted and eyelash, but it was those who cried like this that I could almost feel something. Now that I had a conscious and a heart, I definitely felt something. I felt regret, remorse, anger and pity. There was no other way, but I wish there could have been.

She was like that for five minutes. I saw Marco, as a bird, show no signs of emotion, but I knew better. He began to demorph then, much to my annoyance. He said, ((I have to go make sure no one's coming.)) That was a bad excuse, but I couldn't say anything.

The host finally stopped crying. She also stopped struggling. Marco was also finished demorphing. I saw the pain on his face. The grievance. I saw in that instant all the times he mourned for his mother and wished there was something he could do. Now he was human and she was so close to arms reach. But he couldn't touch her. If he did, it was all over. I mouthed the word 'morph' to him, but he didn't. With painful eyes, he took a step forward, holding his hand out to his mother. This time, I said, sternly, "Morph!", while holding his mother's head away. Marco shook himself out of his trance and began to morph into a gorilla.

"I'm sorry," the host said. I looked down at her with an eyebrow raised. Why would she say sorry to me? "I realize that there's no other way; no other choice. I have to be re-infested or the world is lost. And your friends, and most likely, my family as well."

I felt like saying, "That's right. And if you keep screaming, we'll all be dead," but I said nothing. I didn't feel I had a right to. Besides, it was so hard to hear her apologize when it was I who was about to dunk her head back into the Pool.

I also released my hold on her. She got up to a sitting position, but didn't jump up or try to run. She didn't even go for the weapon lying beside me. What she did do shocked me beyond all measure.

She hugged me.

She gathered me in her arms and hugged me so tightly that I almost couldn't breathe. It was uncomfortable and very inappropriate, but I didn't push her away. She needed this. Fine, I'll let her hug me.

When she pulled away from me, I could finally see her eyes since she was released from Visser One. What I saw also shocked me beyond measure. I didn't see the rage and fear and hate I was used to when I saw her. I wasn't hit with a wave of bad memories or the urge to aim and fire. What I saw was Marco. I saw him laughing at some bad joke he told. I saw him shooting hoops in the gym just before my gym period started. I saw him across the lunch table telling me the glory and wonder that is NASCAR.

I saw happiness and joy and hope and love. And that scared me. I never knew I could see that in Visser One's eyes… Except that it wasn't Visser One. Not right now anyway.

Wiping her eyes foolishly, she said, "I'm sorry," again.

"Stop apologizing," I muttered, turning my gaze away. I couldn't look at her when she was like that.

"I needed a hug," she continued, "and I think you needed one, too."

"I don't need a hug," I snapped, suddenly remembering Cassie, which only made me angrier that this woman would have the gall to act like Cassie.

"You've always been an angry person, Sarah," she said, softly. Almost mother-like. "You've always looked like you need the love of a mother."

"I have a mother!" I snapped again. I might have well smacked her across the face; it probably would have been less painful. Her eyes sort of sank. She looked down. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I could never think of you as my mother," I admitted.

"I'm sorry -"

"I told you to stop apologizing!"

She ignored me. "I'm sorry that Visser One made your life miserable. But I didn't want her to do any of those things she did to you." She paused and I just put my head in my hand and rubbed my temples in aggravation. This conversation was neither necessary nor appropriate. She added softly, "Can I tell you something?"

I sighed. "Go ahead; you're a free woman."

She smiled. "You remind me a lot of Marco."

My resolve jumped a little, but I managed to remain neutral. "Who?" I asked, in what I hoped was sincere confusion.

"My son."

"Oh, so 'my host's son' has a name now?" I didn't look up. If I had, my face would have given everything away. "Why's that?"

"You're serious and strong, but you have a sense of humour."

I looked up at her for that one. "I do _not_ have a sense of humour."

"Yes, you do. You made a joke. 'You're a free woman'. That's something he would say." I was hanging around Marco too much, I suddenly realized. In my head, I could hear him snickering. "I always tried to teach him to look at life as if it were a joke."

I almost said, 'I know', but I stopped just in time. That wouldn't have been good. "It's almost time for…" I stopped. "Time for, uh…"

"Re-infestation. I know. I understand. I know that it isn't my time to see my family yet." She paused for a while, then asked, "Can you do me a favour?"

I looked at her, eyebrow raised. "A favour for _you_?"

"I know I have no right to ask this, but I must. You have contact with humans. If you ever see my family, well… Tell Marco that his mom loves him. And to always do his best and hope for the best. And that I'm always there for him through anything. Tell my husband that… That I… That he's always important to me, and to try to move on. Tell them -"

I cut her off. "I don't even know what your family looks like," I lied. I hoped I was convincing. "And despite what Visser One thinks, I don't have that much contact with humans. Only when I need something." She looked hurt once again. I quickly looked up at Marco, who was surprisingly very still and quiet. Why would I need to tell him that his mother loves him? He was standing there when she said it. But the pained look on her face made me guilty, which surprised me, because I would have given anything to see that look earlier.

Maybe it was because her face now reminded me of Marco, and seeing that pained look on his face would make me feel bad, as well. I sighed again. "I'll see what I can do," I muttered.

"Thank you," she replied and hugged me again.

"This is inappropriate!" I hissed. "You're old enough to be my mother!"

I felt her smile a big smile. That's as close as I would get to letting her think of me as a daughter. If she wanted that, then fine: let her think that. She pulled away from me and was still smiling. "Time to go," she whispered. I just nodded.

I didn't bother holding her down, nor did she struggle. She lowered her head by the Pool under her own admission. I just made sure she didn't slip or anything. I saw the Yeerk crawl into her ear, and saw her face twitch as the Yeerk gained control of her body. Then she rose to her feet, me following, grabbing my weapon. I glared into the Visser's eyes and once again saw only rage, contempt and hate.

But there was still that little sparkle that reminded me of Marco...


	6. Chapter 6

_It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit -- Robert Yates_

_WHAM_!

_WHAM_!

_WHAM_!

The three of us spun to the door, which was trying to be impaled. Marco had his massive fists on it, keeping it shut. I aimed the Dracon Beam in my hand, unknowing how many Hork-Bajir were on the other side, but with no other choice. I nodded to Marco, and he nodded back. He immediately let go of the door, and it burst open with the next _WHAM_!

He pounded the first two Hork-Bajir that came through. The momentary confusion stopped the oncoming entourage just long enough for me to shoot down five more. Leaping over their fallen comrades came half a dozen more Hork-Bajir.

((We can't stay here!)) Marco pointed out, unnecessarily. ((We have to cut them down while moving.))

"Let's go, then." And while firing, I took down the remaining Hork-Bajir, with Visser One right behind me, and Marco taking the rear.

"No matter what happens, if we get out of here, Visser Three knows we're here," Visser One pointed out, also unnecessarily.

"I know!" I hissed. I marched, almost ran, to where Visser One pointed to as the exit. We were less than thirty steps away.

Twenty…

Ten…

Made it! But what was waiting for us stopped us dead in our tracks. I practically skidded to a halt. There was more then a dozen Hork-Bajir standing there, blocking the exit. I cursed loudly.

"You're little party ends here," the Hork-Bajir who looked in charge said. There was something about him that struck me as odd. Odd in the sense of awe. When I looked at his right arm, I saw why.

He had a piece of blue fabric tied around his arm. Almost the same colour as my headband. He was a Blue Band. A legendary fighter. A born leader. Someone who could rip apart and opponent without thinking.

He saw the recognition in my eyes and raised his arm. "Yes, I'm a Blue Band. And it will be such an honour to destroy you. Especially the traitor, Visser One."

She scoffed. "I'm as much a traitor as you are," she said.

"Shush!" I snapped.

"You wearing that ridiculous band across your head is an insult!" the Hork-Bajir sneered, pointing to my headband. "You're not worthy of the honour to be a Blue Band!"

"Really?" I said. "And what have you done for the Empire? I took over worlds, led troops into battle, fought against all odds. And you have done what?"

"I never betrayed my people to Andalite scum!" he roared. The other Hork-Bajir roared in agreement.

I just smirked. "So you never did anything impressive? You just passed your training with flying colours and was granted a Band? You haven't earned your status."

"I will earn it after today," he said, "when I give Visser Three your head on a stick."

"You are welcome to try."

The Blue Band raised his arm and all the Hork-Bajir came charging. If I had twenty minutes, I could re-adjust the energy output of my Beam and hit all of them in one ray, too weak to kill them, but strong enough to knock them out.

Unfortunately, I had seconds, not minutes. And the heat exhaustion, starvation, thirst and anxiety I felt was not helping me think of a different way out of this situation. I looked at Visser One, silently pleading for her to come up with something. Anything.

"Kill the leader and the troops will fall," she muttered. Of course. I knew that.

I aimed, fired, and for the very first time since learning how to use a Dracon Beam, I missed. I actually missed! It was only by a few centimetres, just enough to nick the Hork-Bajir's shoulder, but I missed! The shock made me stop dead. I just stared in complete disbelief.

I missed!

The on coming Hork-Bajir stopped as well. I kept expecting Visser Three to carve a hole in my shoulder or back as punishment for missing. I just couldn't move. I vaguely felt Visser One grab the weapon out of my hands and fire on her own. TSEEW! TSEEW! And finally, the Blue Band fell down, dead. And as the experienced Visser stated, the troops, without their leader, were lost. They attacked, but Marco and Visser One managed to take them all down, anyway.

Marco was beat up pretty bad. He was bleeding all over. I was still shocked. "Everyone misses sometimes," Visser One told me, giving the weapon back to me. I held onto it, but still couldn't move.

((Let's go, Lara,)) Marco said, and despite his injuries, hoisted me over his huge gorilla shoulder and ran out of the building, with the Visser trailing close behind.

I missed. I missed. I couldn't stop thinking about it. ((_What kind of pathetic human are you? The target was neither too far away nor was it moving!)) _Over and over again, I ran his voice through my head. I can't believe I missed!

((Are you okay, Sarah?)) Marco asked me. I nodded. When we ran far enough away from the Station, Marco put me back on the ground, and I plopped in the sand. ((I have to go remorph. Be right back,)) and he hobbled off.

Visser One plopped down in the sand in front of me. She had that stupid, holier-than-thou grin on her face still. I knew she was going to say something snide and insulting for me, the right hand to Visser Three, the only person in the Empire who had perfect accuracy with a Dracon Beam, to miss such an easy shot. Was the desert really getting to me this much?

Instead of insulting me, however, the Visser just said, "You look like you need the love of a mother."

I glared at her, remembering my conversation with the host. "Shut up."

"You look like you need a hug. Do you need a hug?"

I charged the weapon in my hand at her. "I told you to shut up!"

"Are you going to shoot me? Aren't you afraid of missing?"

"I could never miss a target I _want_ to see die!"

It was as if an explosion occurred in my own head. Now I understood why she was Visser One. She didn't have to give me any kind of pep talk or lecture. All she did was insult me and I figured it out on my own. I figured out, all by myself, where my perfect accuracy stemmed from. Why I was able to hit every target without missing.

I _wanted_ to do it.

Visser One grinned at me. I lowered my weapon and scoffed, turning my head away. She taught me something in seconds what Visser Three couldn't do in years. Now I saw why she was higher in rank than he was.

Marco came flying back as a vulture. It was daytime, but we had to move. We were almost at our destination, and it was time to finish this damned mission. I stood back up, my confidence restored, and said, "Time to go."

((Glad to have you back,)) he said.

"It's going to be increasingly more difficult to get in," Visser One pointed out, as we resumed our hike, "but we should be able to get in the back way, so long as they didn't put guards there."

"And if they did?"

She smirked. "Then let's hope you _want_ to kill them bad enough."

I sneered at her, but said nothing…

* * *

The sun crawled to the top of the sky. It was around noon, and the heat was at its peak. Visser One said we were about an hour away from the encampment. I doubted we could make it. No desert I ever hiked in was this bad. Or maybe it was because I had no water or food. Visser One exhausted all the food she brought, and we didn't have time for any more pit stops.

We just hiked. Our speed dropped considerably. I could guarantee that her predictions of the remaining time being an hour were getting higher and higher with every step. I was sweating so bad that my shirt, which used to be a nice shade of dark red, turned black. At some point in the hike, I took off my shirt and completely discarded it in the sand. Chances are, another wind storm would either bury it or take it far away.

What I wore underneath the shirt was a thin, dark grey muscle shirt, with no sleeves and thin shoulder straps. It was much cooler, for about three minutes, and then the heat returned, worse, because my bare skin was exposed.

At that point, I wondered why I took off my shirt.

Visser One, travelling just slightly behind me, looked at the back of the shirt and said to me, "'AJ'? What does AJ mean?"

I had the old lady sew into the back of my shirt the letters AJ, in a lighter grey than the shirt. She did a very good job, I had to admit. I replied, "Nothing."

"It looks like it was sewed with care. Possibly by someone who knew how to sew very well."

"Whatever."

"Is AJ a person?"

"Maybe."

"A person you may have feelings for?"

"Whatever you say."

Visser One grinned. Let her think what she wants. She'll never guess what AJ means. Marco asked, ((Is AJ really a person?)) I didn't reply, nor did I look at him. Getting those letters on my shirt may have been a bad idea, but I didn't care. They had meaning for me, and that's all that matters.

We walked for another couple of days- I mean hours. Or was it only a few minutes? I couldn't tell time anymore. The sun didn't even look like it was moving at all. I remember Marco asking me, ((So why didn't you _want_ to kill that Blue Band?)) He must have overheard my conversation with Visser One.

I replied, my breath all but gone, "Because he was a Blue Band. A legendary fighter; a born leader; a great warrior. Someone like that you can't just gun down. They've earned the recognition and honour of a more personal fight."

((Like you?))

I smiled. "Yeah. Like me."

"We've arrived," Visser One said, as we climbed over a dune. I saw the encampment and my first thought was how something this huge could be hidden from humans. Visser One answered my unspoken question: "It has at least three, heavily guarded scramblers inside, so no amount of radar will detect it, even if a jet flew over it."

"Impressive," I granted, as I slowly climbed down the dune. Marco flew as low as possible to the ground and the Visser slid down with me.

"If you look, there are about six guards outside," the Visser pointed out. I looked and saw three Hork-Bajir, two Taxxons and a human. "There's most likely more, but unseen. There's probably about twenty more Hork-Bajir inside, and countless humans. How much energy do you think that weapon has left?"

I noticed just then that Visser One had taken over this mission. I said, "Remember that _I'm_ in charge."

"I know, I'm just asking; pointing out what you may not know."

I sighed. "I have enough for at most six shots. Ten if I reduce the energy output." The Visser said nothing, but I know she was thinking what I was already going to say, "I need to fire on one target, so that the two Taxxons are distracted enough by the corpse, then reduce the energy output to get rid of the remaining opposition -"

((Or I can morph gorilla and get rid of the opposition without you wasting ammo,)) Marco suggested. ((That way, you have more for what's inside.))

"And by the time you take them all down, the alarm sounds. I need to do this on my own. We'll worry about what to do once we get in."

I had the agreement of the other two, so, at the bottom of the dune, just out of view from the building, I took aim and fired. As soon as I did that, I instantly popped off the weapon's energy pack and opened it in my hands. The beam I shot took down a Hork-Bajir. The two Taxxons instantly began to feed, and in the confusion of a Hork-Bajir going down, following the frenzy of the Taxxons, the other guards would take a minute to get their bearings straight. It took me about half a minute to adjust the energy output, put the pack back on the weapon and fire another five shots to take down the rest of the opposition.

Those five guards would wake up soon. "Let's move," I said, dashing to the building. Trying to run in soft sand, my foot sinking every other step, was very aggravating. The heat had become worse, especially after all the running, shooting and talking. The sun seemed brighter, the desert more dangerous… I wanted to get out of here now.

We approached the door, but it was far too sealed for me to go cockroach and slip inside. I didn't know what to do. I really, really didn't. Visser One offered her ideas: "There's a finger pad here for DNA access. Hoist the human up and put his hand on the pad here." I did as she said. Once the human's hand touched the pad, the door slid open.

We stepped inside, Marco hobbling in with his vulture legs. Whispering, Visser One added, "We have to turn that corner, make a few zigzag turns and then walk straight ahead until we reach a large room. In the room, we'll find ships of all sizes. I think I can tell which ship your friends are in from looking at them. I'll put in my code and get them out."

"And you'll get your item, inform the Council what Visser Three did and your politics war can continue," I muttered.

"That's correct."

((I'll hang back for a bit to morph into something that can fight,)) Marco said. ((Don't get too far ahead of me.))

The Visser and I walked to the corner and turned it. Then I deliberately slowed down, pretending to be interested in my Beam. Just looking at the energy pack, I realized I had fewer shots than I thought. I winced. "I have like two shots left," I whispered. "I hope we don't come in contact with an army."

"Whatever we come in contact with, you need to save at least one of those shots," the Visser said. When I looked at her with my eyebrow raised, she elaborated. "I know a way we can get out of here with no witnesses to our working together."

"I thought you said as long as we were with you then you could come up with a lie saying you were forced."

"I can, but if the Council gets too many witnesses to the contrary, they'll want a formal investigation. But if they find out that Visser Three's former right hand blew his encampment sky high, they wouldn't be able to do a formal investigation."

I snorted. "This was your plan from the beginning, wasn't it?" I said, realizing the truth. "You _wanted_ Visser Three to take that item, didn't you? You _wanted_ this little escapade to happen! You _wanted_ us to help you in your stupid politics war, didn't you?!"

((Sarah, calm down!)) Marco said, lumbering into view, once again as a gorilla. ((I'm as pissed off as you, but you have to be quiet or we'll be heard. We don't have any choice any more. We need to get Jake and everyone else.))

I guess you could say I looked like a bull. I was huffing so hard I half expected steam to come out of my ears. Visser One just grinned at me and continued moving forward. I couldn't believe we went through all this trouble for nothing. If we had just stayed home, we wouldn't be here at all. I wouldn't have had to hike through an imposing desert, thirsting to death, sweating to death, starving to death, getting no sleep at all, infesting another person with a Yeerk…

The latter part was what made me angriest. I didn't like having to revisit my past, but the fact that I did it for no reason at all made me want to blow the damned Visser's head off. But I had to restrain myself until she freed my friends. I gripped my Beam, but kept my finger just off the trigger.

We went through all the zigzags, the Visser in the lead. I don't remember when it was exactly that I gave the mission to her, but now I didn't care. I'd follow her, until it came time to shoot her.

I think Marco knew what I was thinking. He said, ((Sarah, please calm down. People in high positions always do things like this.))

"I don't like being treated like a pawn in some battle I shouldn't be in," I replied.

"You didn't mind it so much when you worked for Visser Three," the Yeerk in front of me shot back.

I raised my weapon and charged it. Marco brought his hand down on my weapon, neither of us realizing his strength. He managed to knock the weapon out of my hands and make a nice, loud, clattering noise. I scrabbled to pick it up. "Will you two shut up!" the Visser hissed.

I sneered and analyzed the weapon, to make sure there was no damage to it. I cursed. I was too pissed to realize, but when I charged the weapon, because of the lack of energy, plus the reduced output, I wasted one of the two remaining shots. I decided not to tell the Visser this, but I think she already knew.

When we finally reached the room with the ships in it, I noticed how difficult it would be. There were dozens and dozens of them. Most of them were Bug Fighters, but some were much larger. I didn't see Visser Three's Blade Ship, but chances are he wouldn't park it with the other ships. Visser One walked us down aisle after aisle, not stopping in front of any of the ships. "Are you sure you know which one?" I challenged.

"Yes." We walked and walked, passing Fighter, Destroyer, and everything in between. "Where is it?" she muttered, walking us down the last aisle. The third to last ship is what stopped her. "Here it is!" she exclaimed. The ship was larger than a Fighter, but still small enough to be in the same class. It looked as if it could hold all the hikers and a few zoo animals as well. "I planted this ship in Visser Three's arsenal, knowing full well he would use it to capture your friends and the hikers."

She stepped up to the door panel and put her code in. The door slowly opened. I felt my anxiety rise. My heart beat faster and faster. I was worried any sudden movement would give me a heart attack.

The door finally opened…


	7. Chapter 7

_Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy. __-- Aristotle._

There were no hikers. There was no Erek the Chee. There were no zoo animals.

There was only one Hork-Bajir. And he had a Blue Band on his wrist.

"Greetings, Visser One and friends!" he said. He had been rehearsing. "Visser Three put me here to inform you that the hikers, the item and the Andalite bandits have moved to the main arena. If you want to rescue them, go there. As for Visser One, you can choose to leave now, and you won't be charged with treason."

_Snap_.

I lost it. I lost it so fast and so bad that the next few minutes were a blur to me. One second I was listening to a Hork-Bajir taunt me and the next second, I felt Marco holding me back as much as he could, while I held a bloody Blue Band warrior, dead, in my cut up hand.

I could only see red. I think my eyes were blood shot. I vaguely saw Visser One, amused, standing behind me, still outside the ship. I shook Marco off me, found my Dracon Beam on the floor and picked it up. Still angry, still seeing red, still with murderous intent in my eyes, I approached Visser One's position.

Her amused, sarcastic grin disappeared instantly. I smacked the side of her head with my Beam and she collapsed on the ground. She was still conscious. I moved to stand over her, hearing Marco screaming in my head, trying to stop me. I smashed the weapon at him too, and he backed off. I aimed the weapon at the cowering Visser. "I have one shot left," I hissed, sounding very much like a kettle reaching boiling point on the stove. "I can't believe your nerve! You dragged us all into this mission. This mission that should not have existed!"

I was screaming very loudly. I didn't care if anyone heard me. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" Visser One tried to explain. "He wasn't supposed to do this! He took everyone away when he found out we were here!"

"SHUT UP! Don't talk anymore! You're a cold blooded murderer! You're an annoying sin against the universe! Your death will bring a great deal of peace to the universe, but mostly to me. Watching you die will be very beneficial to me… Yes, very much so. Watching your body slump in a lifeless heap will make me ever so happy."

Then I started cackling. It wasn't laughing, it was cackling. I never, ever thought I could act like this, but I did. All the rage, exhaustion, everything, was piling up and I finally let it all out. The Visser tried to speak again, but I brought the tip of my gun right to her face and said, "I can't wait to kill you, you little, annoying bitch!"

((Sarah, don't you dare!))

"Don't speak to me!" I screamed.

((If that was Elfangor, would you really kill him?! ))

If anything could be cold water against my face that was it. I stood back up straighter and just let air fill into my lungs. This was Visser One in Marco's mother's body. He would never allow me to shoot her, and if he did, he would have to kill me to get revenge. Just the same as if Visser One was Elfangor, and our positions were reversed, I would have the same feelings as him.

Still angry, but significantly less so, I said, "No; I suppose I wouldn't." I backed off, away from Visser One, and she scrambled to her feet.

She rubbed her head where I smashed the weapon and muttered, "Now I'm going to have a headache."

"Like I care."

"Now, if you're calmer, I can tell you what you were too deaf to hear." I stood there, waiting for her suggestion. "I can still get your friends back and fulfill my mission as well."

"How?"

She grinned. "I thought you were in charge?"

I raised my weapon and Visser One instinctively backed off. "Don't make me want to kill you again."

"Alright, fine. The main arena is a few yards away from this room. There's a consol there that houses all the environmental controls for this building. You need to shoot that to allow it to overload and explode. Once it erupts, it'll cause a chain explosion with all the weapons and other electrical equipment housed in the main arena. By then we'll be long gone, of course."

"That was a great ending to a story that you didn't tell me the rest of," I said, sarcastically.

Visser One grinned again. "Eva was right: you're developing a sense of humour."

"I'm waiting for an idea of what to do next!"

She snickered, but said, "Truthfully, I don't have any ideas. I just know how it was supposed to end. I was hoping you, as the leader, would think of something for this part."

"I have no ideas, either, okay?! I am so stressed, hungry, thirsty, tired, aching and pissed off to think straight, okay?! I hate the desert! I am out of ideas!"

((I have an idea,)) Marco said, quietly. The Visser and I looked at him…

* * *

The main arena was huge! It was large enough to fit all kinds of things, most of them being Hork-Bajir guards. Visser One's estimation was incorrect; there weren't twenty of them, there was more like fifty. Visser Three must have upped the ante when he heard we were here.

On the very far left side, near where the dock was, I saw the hikers. Those who were already Controllers were calm, standing at attention, awaiting instruction. Those who weren't Controllers, and there were very few, cowered in their bonds, fearing the worst.

Near the middle-back of the arena were a tiger, a grizzly bear, a wolf, an Andalite and a hawk. They were contained in a sort of force field, so they weren't exactly tied up. By their positions, I could tell they were talking; discussing about what to do. They most likely heard that we were here, as well.

And finally, near the far right of the arena, where all the weapons and half the Hork-Bajir guards stood, where the only entrance to the arena was and therefore the most likely place for us to come to, was Visser Three himself. He looked smug, as if he won the battle. Ha. I don't think so.

It was true the most likely place for us to come to was the entrance, but we didn't like doing things the expected way. Visser One came down from the entrance above everything, and landed square on her feet in front of the Visser, but far enough away from the guards. She bent at the knees slightly, to allow for momentum of the drop, but stood back up straight instantly. It would have been easy for him to give the order to kill her, or even to kill her himself, but his arrogance demanded he taunt her first.

((So, you've finally arrived,)) he said to her, almost laughed at her. ((I'm surprised you've decided to choose the route of treason.))

She just snickered at him. "You're still so stupid that you believe I'll be charged with that, don't you?"

((Isn't it obvious? You hiked for days to get here, infiltrated one of my bases, helped Andalite bandits and are now standing here, in front of fifty witnesses, about ready to release the other Andalite bandits. Oh, how wonderful a day it will be when you are executed and I am the new Visser One.))

Visser One laughed. "You're such a moron. I would never betray the Empire. I hiked here under duress. Those Andalite bandits forced me to get here."

((Where are they, by the way?)) he asked, in what he hoped was a nonchalant way. He also raised his tail defensively.

"I don't know. After I put my code into the ship, I ran off. They're most likely lost in your little encampment here."

((You couldn't run away from Sarah. Her accuracy with a Dracon Beam is perfect.))

"I didn't realize you held a traitor in such high regard!" Visser One mocked. "I wonder, then, which of us is the real traitor?"

Visser Three growled. ((If you were really coming here under duress, how did you manage to convince them to allow you to feed at my Relief Station?))

"I told you, I had the code to their friends. I used that against them."

Visser Three laughed. ((It doesn't matter, either way. I have an idea: I'll kill you here and now. That way, I can say I killed you because you were betraying the Empire. You won't be able to give your point of view of events if you're dead. And with fifty witnesses, the Council will believe me anyway.))

Visser One just grinned in a very sarcastic way. "You're so sure you've won. You're so sure that everything is going according to your plan. How stupid of you."

((You forget that I have the item, the Andalites and now you exactly where I want them.))

Visser One laughed. "This is all going according to plan! Because of that item, I have gathered the Andalite bandits and are about to bring them to the Council. You just need to give me a verbal confession stating that getting everything together was my idea."

((And you expect me to do that?))

"You've done everything else I've wanted so far. Did you know that there was never an item to begin with? I tagged a human to track him and fed you lie after lie about a powerful item that never existed in the first place. But if you want to present to the Council a fake item, be my guest."

Visser Three, again, growled. ((I still have the Andalites! And I will kill you for treason, you annoying Yeerk!))

"You won't be able to do that."

Visser Three charged Visser One, all the Hork-Bajir standing off, watching. The so called 'Andalite bandits' were watching in awe as well. A fight between two powerful Vissers; which one would get the upper hand?

FWAPP! Visser Three's tail blade came down at Visser One. But the most shocking part of all was when she raised her arm in time for her wrist to collide with the base of his blade to block the attack.

She might as well have electrocuted Visser Three. He backed off instantly. He analyzed Visser One intently. ((There is only one human in the universe that can see my blade enough to block like that.))

Visser One's grin grew dramatically. She smiled in a way that she never could; a knowing grin that Visser Three knew all to well from a different person.

((Sarah!))

"Surprise!" I shouted, and jumped backwards to where I had jumped from above into the arena in the first place. I held out my hands and felt a Dracon Beam plop right into them. Then, when I took aim at Visser Three, I felt the ground shake considerably, knocking down the Human-Controllers standing at attention. Marco the gorilla landed right next to me.

((KILL THEM!)) Visser Three yelled. ((Where is the real Visser One?!))

"Over here!" I heard her shout from where my friends were being held. She had just finished punching in her code, releasing them. No one even noticed her back there, because they had been too focused on me.

All according to plan.

The battle turned! It was no longer fifty on two: now it was fifty on seven. The odds were still way too high for us. We would die in minutes.

That is, if we didn't already have a plan. I shrank slightly and my hair grew just a little bit. My facial features shifted and I also grew a bit skinnier. I was wearing Visser One's shirt, and she was wearing the shirt of a human we came across before entering the arena. Her shirt was far too big for me, and so I discarded it.

Part of the plan was for Visser One to release the locks on a ship here as well, so we could make a quick escape. I only had one shot on my Beam left; otherwise I would be able to take down at least half of the opposition. Instead, I decided to do something else. I jumped passed and Hork-Bajir in my way, getting cut up in the process, and made my way right next to Visser Three. He FWAPPed, I dodged, found a way, much to my amazement, to step on his tail and hold it to the ground, while pointing my weapon right at his head.

"Everyone stop fighting, or your precious Visser gets his head blown off!" I shouted. My voice wasn't very loud in the din of the arena, but luckily, Visser Three helped with that.

((EVERYONE STOP!))

No one moved. They all looked back to see me holding Visser Three at bay with my weapon. I thought it was a very humorous situation. I was a thirteen year old human youth. I was less than half the height of Visser Three, who was a full-grown Andalite warrior. The only way I could reach my weapon to his head was by using his tail, which I was standing on, as a foot stool, so I could stand slightly taller.

Marco realized the humour in the situation. He was laughing at me. ((You look like a jockey trying to get on her horse!))

I smiled, but allowed it to fade quickly. ((What's the plan?)) Jake said to me. I sighed in relief. It was so good to hear his voice again.

"Make a path," I said. The Hork-Bajir parted so that there was a path we could walk down to get to the others. I nodded at Marco. He understood that he had to go first. He began down the path. "If anyone makes one move, Visser Three dies a slow and painful death."

"With the opportunity to capture the Andalites and kill Visser Three, I'm afraid I will take that opportunity," a Hork-Bajir voice said. I looked in the crowd and saw one. He wasn't a Blue Band, but could speak fairly well. That confused me until I looked at Visser One. Her grin told me that she planted this Hork-Bajir. She was hoping I would kill Visser Three.

But that wasn't part of the plan. I was to use my last shot to blow the building sky high. But I guess she would rather see Visser Three die instead. Now if this Hork-Bajir attacks Marco and I don't shoot Visser Three, all the other forty-nine guards will call my bluff and attack.

Damn you, Visser One! I jumped off of Visser Three and ran down the path. The Hork-Bajir closed in on us! There was no way both Marco and I would get out of this alive. I looked ahead and saw Visser One again. She was holding up another Dracon Beam, practically waving it at me. I made a quick decision. I think Marco knew what I was thinking because he bent over slightly.

I ran and jumped on his back, then jumped off his back and sailed over the Hork-Bajir behind him, the extended height and momentum making it easy to get over the seven-foot beasts. I landed hard on the other side, ripped the weapon out of Visser One's hands, and before even one guard could attack Marco, I fired.

TSEEW! TSEEW! TS- TS- TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSEEW!

One down, two down, six down, twenty down… I unloaded the weapon, with perfect accuracy, on all the guards present. The weapon jerked worse and worse with each shot, as it wasn't designed for so many shots in succession. The tip began to smoke slightly, and by the time I took down the last guard, there was so little energy in the weapon that I just discarded it to the side.

I still had my other Beam, however. With its one last shot. "Looks like your witnesses are dead," Visser One said, smiling. "The Andalite bandits are free, the hikers are, and will be, mine, and of course, there was no item to begin with."

By this time, Visser Three was so angry that he couldn't possibly see what we were going to do next. Visser One pointed to her ship that the hikers had already converged in. The Controllers had to shove the bound and cowering hikers in. They would become Controllers shortly. I saw Erek give us a very slight nod as he passed us to get into the ship. Jake had also given a silent order for the rest of us to get in, as well. Everyone except Visser One and I went in.

"Think you can hit it without missing?" she whispered to me.

"For a chance to blow up Visser Three? I won't miss." I aimed the Beam at the environmental control system and fired my last remaining shot at it. As soon as contact was made, the consol exploded.

"Time to go!" Visser One said, and led me into her ship. As expected, the one explosion caused a chain reaction, and soon everything else in the arena started exploding.

((I will get back at you for this!)) I heard Visser Three scream, just before the ship's door closed and we took off. The whole encampment, as I watched from the sky, blew up, but I seriously doubted Visser Three was dead. He would find a way to live.

I looked around the ship. It was big enough to fit us all in here, but still too small to move around much. I also noticed the ship was air conditioned. Getting out of the desert was soothing and comforting. I closed my eyes…

((You planted that Hork-Bajir on purpose, didn't you?)) Marco asked Visser One. I snapped my eyes open again and looked at her for an answer.

"Yes, I did. If what she was planning went through, you would be safe, but she would have died. If she had died, we would all have died. She's the only one with perfect accuracy." I could have sworn she winked at me, but that may have been my exhaustion playing tricks on me.

Privately, Marco asked, ((So are you guys still good for morph time?))

((Yeah,)) Jake replied. ((Erek kept his hologram over us for close to a whole day. We stayed demorphed for that time, while he made it appear we were Andalites. When Visser Three walked in saying that you guys were at his Relief Station, we remorphed and stayed this way until you showed up.))

((How much time do you have left?))

((About twenty of your minutes,)) my brother replied.

I laughed. Marco corrected him, ((They're all our minutes, Ax.))

"What's so funny?" Visser One asked.

I looked at her and thought of something quick. "I don't need a Dracon Beam to kill you."

Marco stopped joking around. Visser One just grinned. "You won't kill me. You can't. This ship could be set to -"

"Relax, I was kidding. I'm far to tired to kill you right now."

"Maybe your sense of humour needs some work."

"I don't have a sense of humour." I yawned. I tried to hide it, but it happened. "Does anyone need me for the next however long?"

((Nope,)) Marco answered.

"Nope," his mother replied as well.

"Good." I just fell down, allowing my exhaustion to finally take over. I vaguely remember hitting the ground, but after that, I just saw black.

What felt like only a few minutes later, I felt my body jerk from side to side and someone say in my head, ((Wake up, Sarah. Time to morph into a bird.))

I was already growing feathers before I asked, "What?"

((You were asleep for over an hour,)) I heard Cassie say. My eyes flickered open and I saw her, as an Osprey, standing on the deck of the ship we were travelling in.

I tried blinking away my confusion, until my eyelids disappeared, along with my mouth. ((Why are you an Osprey? What happened to not demorphing in front of Visser One? Or any other Yeerk?))

((Well, Erek extended his hologram over us,)) she explained. ((All she saw was Andalites turning into birds.))

((Oh.)) My morph was complete. My feathers were a golden hue. I was the largest bird of the lot. I was a Golden Eagle.

Marco said, ((Isn't it ironic she chose that to be her raptor morph?))

((Why is that ironic?)) I asked.

((David's bird-of-prey morph was a Golden Eagle,)) Rachel said, with an obvious hint of anger.

((Sorry,)) I muttered. ((I had this morph for months before I met any of you.))

((We're not mad; it's just ironic.))

"We've arrived," Visser One announced. She nodded to the Hork-Bajir pilot and he settled the ship down at the camp site where this whole stupid thing started. Jake and the rest of us exited the ship, with Visser One standing in the door frame. "We're going to finish the hike by going back down the hill, as planned. It'll be like none of this happened."

((Not to us,)) I said.

"For us, then," she replied, grinning. "Until we meet again, Sarah. I told you us working together could produce wondrous things."

If I had not been a bird, I would have sneered. ((I hope our next meeting involves me blowing your head off.))

She laughed. "And I hope you find your mother's love soon. Otherwise, Eva offers her love in its place."

The door to the ship closed shut, and I stood there, feeling very foolish. Jake just said, ((Come on; let's go before she re-opens that door,)) and we all took off into the sky.

Rachel, much to my surprise, kept her opinions to herself. I also expected Cassie to say something, but she didn't. Actually, it was Tobias who broke the silence first: ((Sarah, can I ask you a question?))

I sighed. ((Yeah?))

He replied, ((What does AJ mean?))

I felt a wave of relief. ((Yeah, that's a good question,)) Rachel said, ((I don't know anyone at school named AJ. It's probably some kid in The Hole who she likes.))

((Wrong,)) I replied. ((It's an acronym.))

((You mean when the letters mean something? So it's not a person?))

((Not entirely.))

There was a silence. ((Are you gonna tell us its meaning?)) Tobias asked.

I sighed again. I thought these guys were smart. ((The 'A' stands for 'Animorph', and the 'J' is for Jake. You know, because we're the Animorphs and Jake's our leader.))

I heard Jake groan, but everyone else laughed. Marco said, ((How come she gets a uniform and we don't?))

((The old lady sewed it for me. It would be too conspicuous if I asked her to do it for everyone else. Besides, she thinks AJ is a kid at school I like, and I want to keep it that way.))

((But all the cool Superheroes have uniforms! Batman, Superman…))

((All those Superheroes wear their underwear outside their pants. That's not 'cool'.))

Everyone laughed again. ((Man, I missed you guys! Marco said. My audience was someone with no sense of humour and a murderous Yeerk. I think my brain was melting.))

((_Was_? As in past tense?))

((Sarah, stop hanging around Marco. You're developing a sense of humour,)) Jake said.

((Yes, sir.))

((Don't call me 'sir'!))

((I believe you've upset Prince Jake,)) Aximili put in.

It was so nice to have friends. We laughed and joked the whole way back to Aximili's scoop, and then just hung out until Jake announced it was time to go. Marco and I walked out of the forest together, and I decided to walk with him home...


	8. Epilogue

_Together forever, never apart. Maybe in distance but never at heart._

We reached the porch of Marco's house. This is where our friendship was tested to the point of almost losing it. Where I found out his mother was the most powerful Visser in the universe.

Where it all started.

"Wanna come in?" Marco asked. I nodded. He opened the door and we both entered his house. He closed the door behind him, and we just stood there, in silence. It was very uncomfortable. I looked over at the picture on the end table beside the couch. I saw, again, Marco as a kid, his father, but I didn't see Visser One.

I saw Marco's mother.

I smiled sadly. She thought of me as a daughter. It was a nice thought. I remembered her last request of me. "_Tell Marco that his mom loves him."_ I didn't see any point in telling him this at the time, as he was standing there.

But she didn't know that. And he technically wasn't supposed to be there. Therefore, I had to tell him. Even if he knew already. "Marco, your mother loves you. And she wants you to know that she's always with you and for you to do your best and hope for the best."

He smiled at me. "Thanks," he said.

I sighed and remembered Visser One's face, that used to give me such horrible nightmares and fill my heart with rage, but now, whenever I think of her, I don't get angry. Nor do I wish to kill her. All I see when I look at her was Marco, and his words to me: ((_If that was Elfangor, would you really kill him?! ))_

No, of course not. And now I understood why he was so angry with me when I told him I would kill her, whether he tried to stop me or not. I felt something crawl to my throat. I swallowed but it didn't go away. "Marco," I said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." I took a breath, and spoke from my heart. "I'm sorry for saying I'd kill your mother. And I mean this seriously, not out of pity."

"I know." He added, "Thanks."

And then he hugged me. I let him. He needed it. We were like that for a few minutes, but it felt longer. When he stepped back from me, he looked at me and muttered, "I didn't do that, okay?"

"Do what?" I asked.

He grinned at me and laughed. "Hey, you wanna play some video games?"

"Sure."


End file.
